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Pinero's Pear Tree Bottom hotel could be in trouble
Judge quashes environmental licence permitting construction
VAUGHN DAVIS, Observer staff reporter
Wednesday, May 17, 2006
A judge yesterday quashed the environmental licence permitting the construction of the Spanish-based Pinero Group's 1,918-room Bahia Principe Clubs & Resorts at Pear Tree Bottom in St Ann.
However, the verdict has been stayed for 21 days, in order to grant the attorneys representing the company time to review the written judgement of Justice Bryan Sykes, who presided over the matter, as well as to develop grounds for a possible appeal.
During the 21 days in which the verdict is stayed construction may continue on the hotel.
In delivering his judgement in court yesterday, Justice Sykes outlined that the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) and the Natural Resources Conservation Authority (NRCA) did not adequately consult with the residents and stakeholders in Pear Tree Bottom before granting the environmental licence to the developing company. This, Sykes said, was evident due to the absence of the marine ecology report in the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) made public before construction of the hotel began. Sykes also maintained that little evidence existed to suggest that the marine report had been supplied to all the relevant organisations.
Due to the lack of the marine ecology report, which explores the benefits of the flora, fauna and geographical features of the area, the judge said, NEPA and the NRCA allowed the public to evaluate the hotel's construction on the basis of insufficient information.
"The people of Jamaica are entitled to know about the project and to know accurate information.It is difficult to see how the NRCA and NEPA consulted in a suitable manner," Justice Sykes said.
The judge also said that after a personal reading of the EIA, he found it to be an unreliable document. He said he found that it made no mention of several types of wildlife that existed on the Pear Tree Bottom site such as a number of nocturnal birds and sea turtles. He also noted that the EIA showed little evidence that its creators could speak authoritatively on the marine life, water quality, coral reefs and oceanography at the site.
"The empirical work on the EIA was really poor. This requires serious fieldwork. There is no evidence that this was done. One could argue that the poor work on the EIA showed that poor information was provided to the decision-maker (NEPA)," said Justice Sykes.
In November 2005, the Northern Jamaica Conservation Authority, the Jamaica Environment Trust (JET) and four residents of Pear Tree Bottom were granted leave to pursue a Judicial Review of the granting of the permit by NEPA and the NRCA for phase one of the hotel. They argued that NEPA and the NRCA did not adequately address significant environmental and infrastructural concerns of the residents, and that their public consultation process had been flawed.
Attorneys on behalf of both government organisations maintained, however, that the EIA was a legitimate document and that the public consultation process had indeed been faultless.
Pinero's Pear Tree Bottom hotel could be in trouble
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