One of the developers involved in a controversial project for Habour Island warned yesterday that continued protests like the one against his development are sending the wrong signals to foreign investors.
Despite the opposition to the Romora Bay Club project being led by the Save Harbour Island Association, Managing Partner of Romora Bay Development, Darryl Parmenter, also said that there are no plans to scale down the development further.
The Association, which is led by attorney and activist, Fred Smith, claims that the project is just too big for tiny Habour Island and would damage its historical beauty.
Mr. Smith is also on the frontline of other causes, including the fight against the multimillion-dollar development for Guana Cay.
The Save Guana Cay Association is now asking the Supreme Court to halt the project while a judicial review takes place.
Mr. Smith said recently that the Save Harbour Island Association also plans to sue the district council of Habour Island if its demands for a scaled down development are not met.
The attorney also claimed that the council approved the project without considering the concerns of the residents.
“The district council approved in principle this Romora Bay project and the people of Harbour Island did not have the opportunity to participate in a democratic process,” Mr. Smith said.
“We are now asking the developers to reconsider their proposal. Their lawyers have been in touch with us and if a compromise can not be reached then we would be suing the developers and the district council in order to get the courts to declare that the decision that they made was unfair.”
However, Mr. Parmenter said the project is in fact already scaled down and assured that the concerns of the residents were taken into consideration before the plans were finalized.
“Our scale is very downscale,” he said. “Itﾴs 40 units on four and a half acres which by any measure is a low-keyed, downscale development.”
Mr. Parmenter claimed during an interview from his Florida office that Mr. Smith and the Association are doing the country a disservice.
“The Bahamas thrives on tourism,” he said. “It does not thrive on people with single family homes sitting on the waterfront and the message is very clear, I think, to the Bahamian people that we have a few wealthy persons depriving Bahamians from their right to work,” the developer said.
He said those in opposition to the project are simply against new development on Harbour Island.
“I think itﾴs frivolous and very self-serving and very selfish on the part of those wealthy property owners that are against the project,” Mr. Parmenter said.
According to the developer, Mr. Smithﾴs threat of a lawsuit is premature because the fact of the matter is that most of the Bahamian residents on Harbour Island are definitely supporting the Romora Bay project.
“We havenﾴt been contacted about any possible lawsuit, but the Association does not have the support of the residents,” he claimed.
“Mr. Smith had a petition and it had about 52 signatures for persons who were against the project. So the developers had a petition drawn up and we receivedﾅover 300 signatures.”
He said that if Mr. Smith were to file a lawsuit and become successful in his quest to have the project scaled down, it would set a very dangerous precedence for future development in The Bahamas.
Nevertheless, Mr. Smith said the Association intends to drive full steam ahead with its plans to sue unless the project is re-drafted in such a way that it meets the acceptable standards of the residents.
Mr. Smith said the Association has serious concerns about how the development would impact the environment ﾖ both land and sea.
But Mr. Parmenter said the project will not breach any environmental laws.
Despite all the lobbying against the development on the island, Mr. Smith said he doesnﾴt want Bahamians to get the wrong perception that he is anti-foreign investment.
In fact, he claimed he is “all for” development once itﾴs not destroying the pristine nature of the island.
“Let me clarify this,” Mr. Smith said.
“I am 100 percent in favour of investment. All Iﾴm saying is just like an American canﾴt go anywhere in the United States and build where he wants to build without regulatory oversightﾅneither can [investors] come to [The Bahamas] and do what they want to do without respecting our rights and our laws,” he said.
The investors are proposing to develop a 40-unit hotel condominium and a 50-slip marina.
After the project is completed in two years, the developers say 125 permanent jobs will be created.
Bianca Symonette, The Bahama Journal
