UDC 'mystified' by Winnifred Beach impasse

BY PETRE WILLIAMS-RAYNOR Environment editor williamsp@jamaicaobserver.com

Sunday, October 02, 2011

THE Urban Development Corporation (UDC) is insisting that they have done everything in their power to settle the quarrel with residents of Portland over public access to Winnifred Beach.

Four members of the Free Winnifred Beach Benevolent Society took the matter to court more than two years ago, seeking a declaration of the public's absolute and indefeasible right to access the beach.

In-between court appearances, the residents have met with the UDC in mediation in an effort to settle the matter out of court. However, the two parties have been unable to arrive at a consensus on the way forward.

"We are mystified, because believe it or not, we went to mediation and came out of that thinking that we had an agreement... We even went to NEPA (the National Environment and Planning Agency) to say to the NRCA (Natural Resources Conservation Authority), declare it a public beach under the law; we will endorse it on title. We don't know what else to do," UDC general manager Joy Douglas told the Observer's Monday Exchange on September 26.

"We went to mediation and came to an agreement. I assigned it as general manager of the UDC, agreeing to what was agreed at mediation, which was that they acknowledge that we had done what we undertook to do; that we would create a mechanism for ongoing consultation on the part of the community in terms of our development plans. The next thing that I was told by my legal counsel is that that has been withdrawn," she added.

Now, Douglas said, the UDC is left to question the motivation of the residents. At the same time, she noted that their failure to reach an agreement on the contentious issue ought to be of concern to the leaders of Portland.

"This is not any big stick public sector body trying to do the people out of anything. And I will tell you that it should be of concern to the leadership of Portland and the country because the UDC is actually being prevented as a result of that the (failure to settle the dispute) from going and putting in the amenities needed -- sanitary and otherwise -- at Winnifred Beach because the parish council had said some two years ago that they would not process our application... until this matter is settled," Douglas said.

According to the 2006 environmental impact assessment (EIA) -- done by Technological and Environmental Management Network Limited -- on the proposed beach development project, Fairy Hill Phase 2 has three main features:

* Fairy Hill Beach Park that will feature, at minimum, a ticket office, guard post, business offices, and family-oriented recreational facilities, as well as sanitary conveniences;

* Beach cottages to provide temporary dwelling opportunities for beach patrons and other visitors to Portland "who are desirous of extending their length of stay"; and

* 29 residential lots ranging in size from 821 metre square to 1,505 metre square.

Meanwhile, the two parties are to go before the Buff Bay Resident Magistrate's Court some time this month, even as Douglas maintains she is unaware of the precise nature of any lingering concerns the residents may have.

"We really don't know, but the last thing is that we were trying to get them to go back to mediation again. But this time, they will have to pay 50/50," she said.

On the last occasion, Douglas said that the UDC had opted to foot 100 per cent of the bill.

"We were prepared to demonstrate, in whatever way we needed to, to the citizens of Portland, and to that area in particular, that at no time had the UDC intended to deprive them of access to a well-planned, structured beach facility," she said.

"At no time has it ever been in the contemplation of the UDC. There are no records that show that," added Douglas, who is also a member of the boards of the NRCA and the Town and Country Planning Authority.

But up to a month ago, Environment Watch sources revealed that residents had concerns that the owner of the development could, without a court declaration of their prescriptive right, at some later date, deny the public access to the beach. At the same time, they wanted assurances that they would have a voice in the decision-making pertaining to the beach.

"It (what the UDC has offered) is not what we asked for," Phylis Miller, vice-president of the benevolent society told Environment Watch in at the end of August. "We were not satisfied with the results because it is not something that we will get anything from. We want to run the beach, but they want to be the head of us and we want to be side by side with them. If we sign the paper now, they can come five years later and run us."

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UDC 'mystified' by Winnifred Beach impasse