The
Jamaica Observer published an extensive article on Sunday regarding Blue Lagoon. The full text of the article is as follows:
Storm over Blue Lagoon
Developers, environmentalists wage bitter battle over Blue Lagoon
BY PETRE WILLIAMS-RAYNOR Environment editor williamsp@jamaicaobserver.com
Sunday, May 15, 2011
THERE'S a storm brewing over the now controversial development of the world famous Blue Lagoon tourist attraction in Portland, as green lobbyists insist the area should be left unspoiled while the developers maintain they are there to stay.
"My overall concern is we have a very beautiful natural place in Jamaica where a private land owner starts a development. He is stopped by the environmental regulator, he continues to do it. He eventually applies for a permit. It's turned down by one board, he continues to do it. It's approved by the same board a year later," said Diana McCaulay, the Jamaica Environment Trust's (JET's) chief executive officer.
At the same time, she accused the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) — administrative arm of the Natural Resources Conservation Authority (NRCA), which granted the beach licence to the developers — of failing to effectively monitor the work.
Further, McCaulay said the agency has not been very forthcoming in providing a justification for the granting of the licence nor about the breaches that have occurred since.
And it appears JET — like the rest of the society — will have to wait a while longer for the answers. NEPA is currently preparing a report on the matter for Prime Minister Bruce Golding.
"I have been a little behind in sending the report off to the prime minister, but it is just that we want to get it right... We are taking our time... I am not going to write fluff to the honourable prime minister," NEPA boss Peter Knight told the Sunday Observer.
He would not comment further on the issue, noting that it would be improper to do so at this stage.
McCaulay, for her part, said that having herself discovered the work at the lagoon, known popularly as Blue Hole, in January, she had gone about gathering information on the site -- information which she said justifies JET's concerns. Among other things, she said trees and other vegetation had been removed and an artificial beach put in — things for which the beach licence gave no permission.
McCaulay has also raised questions about the licence and the permit given for the construction of a slipway for non-motorised craft — copies of which she has obtained under the Access to Information Act.
"The licences we were provided expired in March 2010. I have asked NEPA if they were renewed, I have had no answer. So separate and apart from there being breaches in the licences, it is not clear whether they were even in effect," she said.
It is against this background that JET, on April 11 this year, wrote to Prime Minister Golding, stating its objection "to the granting of a beach licence by the NRCA to build and operate an artificial beach in Blue Lagoon". Attached to the letter — the reason for NEPA's report to the prime minister — is general information on the lagoon, its legal status as being subject to the Preservation Order in keeping with the National Trust Law, comments from visitors and photographs of the site.
The paper trail between the NRCA board, NEPA and developer Devon Wilson of Tropical Lagoon Heights Resort bears evidence to the fact that a 2008 application from Wilson for the beach licence and the construction of the slipway was turned down by the NRCA board in 2009, only to be approved a year later.
"The construction of the slipway is refused as the launch and use of motorised vessels is being discouraged in the area, and as such, the construction of the slipway is not deemed appropriate at this time," the NRCA said in a January 29, 2009 letter to the developer, outlining the reasons for its refusal to approve the work.
"The proposed coastline modification and use of the beach for commercial recreational purposes will degrade the environmental character of the area," it added.
The letter went further to order that all structures and works related to the application "be removed and the area restored to its condition prior to the commencement of... construction works within two months". It advised Wilson that he could exercise the right of appeal to the minister with portfolio responsibility for the environment.
The application was subsequently approved for the construction and maintenance of a slipway on the foreshore and floors of the sea adjoining the lagoon. It also detailed a raft of general and specific conditions with which the developers were required to comply, including ensuring that there is no mechanised watersports activity in the area.
Since then, the developer has been served with warning notices for breach of the beach licence and a summons for him to appear in court over the unlawful encroachment of the foreshore and floor of the sea by installing a floating dock at the lagoon. Wilson has also been served notice to remove sea walls.
But while the matter before the court is still pending, the developers said the sea walls have been removed and that they are making every effort to comply with NEPA's regulations.
"There's no artificial beach. There is a beach there that has been reclaimed from silt and debris that came down from the hillside. What we did is we cleaned it up and took some corrective measures to stop the silt from coming down. We were able to reclaim the beach after a couple of years of work," Colin Bell, operations manager for Tropical Lagoon Heights Resort, whose main attraction is the lagoon, told the Sunday Observer.
"NEPA has issued warning notices for some sea walls and a jetty. We have since then taken down the walls and we are seeking a permit for the jetty," he added, noting that they had also renewed the licences which did, in fact, expire in March this year.
At the same time, he denied that they had removed trees and other vegetation to facilitate commercial operations at the lagoon.
"No trees were removed. We are doing a development on the top of the hill so if we cut the trees... all the development that we're putting in is going to end up in the lagoon. We nuh mad people," Bell said. "The property is called Tropical Lagoon Resort. If yuh naming a property 'tropical' and yuh tek out trees, what going to be tropical about yuh property?" he asked.
"If we are building a development, it is in our best interest to have the Blue Lagoon at its best because that is our attraction. With the Blue Lagoon at its best, it is going to mean success for our development."
He also took issue with JET, which he accused of having a hidden agenda.
"They are just a set of people who are anti-development in Portland. The truth to be told, there is also a racial (component), whether you believe it or not. The man who owns the property is black and these people don't believe that a little black boy from Port Antonio should own that property," he said, insisting that there are many other more pressing environmental issues in the lagoon and in Portland about which JET had yet to raise any red flags.
"The fact of the matter is that these people don't want no black people 'round the lagoon," Bell said.
Still, he said, they wouldn't be going anywhere.
"The truth is, dem a go tired fi see wi face because the truth is, it is a private property and the man is developing him property... He is realising his dream and he's creating employment. That company employs over 70 people in the parish," he said.
However, JET said its concerns have nothing to do with who the developer is and everything to do with seeing to the preservation of the environment.
"Who I am really upset with is the regulatory bodies who our taxes support and our mandate is supposed to be the environment," said McCaulay. "I can't be concerned about every developer individually. What I am concerned about is a fair, rational, transparent regulatory regime for the natural environment, and our taxes are supporting institutions to do that. Why are they not doing it?"
She added that any suggestion that JET was racially motivated was a "red herring".
"The issue JET is raising is the regularisation of an illegal activity by the NRCA. This is not my opinion, this is a fact. Having issued the licence, it's been breached. We know this because we have the licence and we have photographs of the breaches. This is not my opinion, this is a fact," McCaulay argued.
JET is not alone in its concern over the Blue Lagoon. The Portland Environmental Protection Association (PEPA) said they and other community members ought to have been consulted on the project.
"Blue Lagoon is the common heritage of all Jamaicans regardless of who might own it at a particular time, and so the perspective of the community should be taken into consideration for any development because it will affect us all, both in terms of the tourism product and the livelihood of all Portlanders," said PEPA president Major Johnathan Lamey.
"What we are asking is that there be full and frank consultations; for example, a community meeting, before any further development. And as a courtesy, we are expecting that PEPA will be contacted. Many developments, though well-intended, can be misguided and can lead to environmental degradation. So we are suggesting that full-fledged discussions be conducted. Less than that we think is totally inadequate and discourteous," he added.
"We have had a say in every development. We have a concern re parish-wide development regardless of who owns it — whether Government, local or private. We have a stake in it. We have been here for 23 years and our experience is valuable to everybody, especially for the voice of the voiceless in this environmentally sensitive and fragile issue," Lamey said.
