The developers of the Baker’s Bay Golf and Ocean Club will likely have to lay off 33 of the 151 Bahamians that are employed on the project as a result of the undertakings it gave the Court of Appeal a few weeks ago to halt essential work on the Guana Cay development.
Dr. Livingston Marshall, senior vice-president of environmental and community affairs confirmed that detail with The Bahama Journal yesterday, bemoaning the adverse impact of the Discovery Land Company’s protracted battle with the Save Guana Cay Reef lobby and its attorney Fred Smith.
Dr. Marshall said the dismissals will likely happen before the end of this month.
“This could translate into approximately $78,000 in lost wages [that would have been] going into the pockets of those families and our concerns are for the folks who will not be working with us,” he said. “It is unfortunate that [the lobby] does not see the full sides of this development.”
According to Dr. Marshall, the company has already spent some $40 million on the project that was touted as a $500 million development and has employed dozens of local contractors.
Last month, the Court of Appeal ordered that the legal challenges that the lobby was pursuing should be heard on their own merits rather than being dismissed as a Supreme Court justice had done.
On May 26, Justice Stephen Isaacs dismissed the association’s application ruling that the Save Guana Cay Association had no standing before the court because it was neither a landowner nor a resident with any interest directly affected by the development.
In its judgment, the Court of Appeal accepted the pledge of the developers not to cut, tear down or remove any vegetation or trees; disturb or remove any mangrove or wetlands and erect any further buildings or structures on the land.
They also gave an undertaking to cease construction and stop the paving of roads pending a determination by the Supreme Court on the legal challenge that the plaintiffs are waging.
Meantime, the attorney for the Save Guana Cay Reef Fred Smith yesterday threatened to move ahead with injunctive proceedings if it was found that the Discovery Land Company had breached its word.
He said since the Court of Appeal ruling some Guana Cay residents had expressed concerns that the investors were allegedly still cutting roads for the development.
Those concerns were communicated to the Discovery Land Company.
“Regrettably our judicial system does not have Court of Appeal marshals or Supreme Court marshals who could police undertakings given to the court and it is generally left to the parties to alert the court to any breaches of the undertaking,” he said.
The developers strenuously denied any such breaches.
“It is quite distressing for the people of Guana Cay to have seen the extent of the roadwork that would have already been built through the forest,” said Mr. Smith. “The developers had said themselves this was the last untouched Primeval forest left in the northern Abacos and they sent aerial photographs which showed huge areas where trees had been just mowed down with tractors.”
Dr. Marshall expressed surprise that Mr. Smith had raised the matter as an issue since the company had submitted the aerial photographs which supposedly proved that there were no infractions.
“We want to challenge the people of the Save Guana Cay lobby to come and visit with us at Bakers Bay and see the property,” he said. “Yet we are being accused of being reluctant to talk to them.”
Guana Cay residents have lobbied for months to prevent the construction of the project, which includes oceanfront units, hillside units, internal golf lots, beach club cottages, mangrove beach bungalows, marina bungalows, village units and several boathouses.
The residents are vehemently opposed to the project, which they feel could impact the surrounding marine life.
Meantime, the developers are still touting the positive aspects of the project, maintaining that it is environmentally sensitive and responsible.
The company has been releasing a series of newspaper advertisements in which it points to the proposed benefits which Bahamians will purportedly derive from the development.
The latest full-page advertisement appeared in a local daily yesterday.
Officials insist that the land plan for the project was developed with input from key stakeholders including local government, the Out Island Council and Guana Cay residents.
Responding directly to the complaints that the size of the project is too big for the land parcel designated for it, the developers reasoned that the facility is appropriately sized with fewer than 400 residences on 585 acres. Over 50 percent of the property is open space.
By: Tameka Lundy, The Bahama Journal
