“The only way to deal with RIU is to do something in the media that will embarrass them. Otherwise, they are not going to budge.”

– Minutes of the Extraordinary General Meeting of the Mammee Bay Club, March 30, 2008.

FROM day one, in 2003, the villa owners and residents of Mammee Bay Estate near Ocho Rios, St Ann, began to document their struggles with RIU Ocho Rios Hotel. It was a struggle that bore stark resemblance to RIU troubles that stretched from Cancun, Mexico to Montego Bay, Jamaica.

The woes of the Mammee Bay residents would force a visit by Health Minister Rudyard Spencer but it was a visit that would test his long experience in conciliatory negotiations and one which the minister would prefer to forget.

The Mammee Bay Club sold a parcel of land to RIU in 2004. It was a decision the residents would come to regret and which immediately launched what would be a long series of complaints about their new neighbours.

The minutes of the 47th annual general meeting held on August 29, 2004 noted: “Negotiations were brought to finality with the sale of the strip of land to RIU and the proceeds received. To date, directors have not seen the approved plan for RIU hotel and cannot ascertain where their final entrance will be. The only plan seen so far by (member) John Marcocchio shows the entrance to the property as the existing entrance currently being used for construction adjacent to Mammee Bay Estate’s entrance, and it appears that this will be the official entrance even after construction.”

The residents expressed concern about the individual that RIU had on the main road directing traffic in and out of both properties. They mandated their board to speak with someone in charge at RIU about “employing a more competent traffic director”.

“This is one of the several matters in which the board has expressed concern to persons in charge of RIU on numerous occasions but very little has been done to correct some of the problems. There was also the construction staff littering the entrance with lunch boxes, drink bottles and other garbage. However, Mr (Anthony) Moyston liaised with RIU’s project manager regarding the situation and there was improvement as the area is virtually raked every day.”

Mammee Bay also complained about a security wall that allegedly encroached on their property and blocked an existing drain. “By law, RIU cannot block an existing drain. Anthony Moyston was asked to liaise with RIU in this matter. A motion was moved by John Marcocchio to seek a surveyor’s opinion about the condition of the wall. This was seconded by Herbert Murdock,” the minutes noted.

Annual General Meeting, July 24, 2005

A year later, the unresolved matter of the security wall reappeared in the minutes of the 48th Annual General Meeting held on Sunday, July 24, 2005. This saw another large turnout, typical of moments when the residents and villa owners were ruffled.

“Over the past year, several meetings were held with representatives of RIU Hotel. Directors met with Stanley Consultants who are the contractors for the North Coast Highway about the problems they foresaw with the highway and the close proximity of RIU’s entrance with Mammee Bay Estate’s entrance.

The residents were worried that given the close proximity of the two entrances, vehicles turning right from RIU and those turning left from Mammee Bay Estate could collide. “Their response was that it was up to the Club to approach RIU and have dialogue on relocation of their entrance,” the minutes recorded.

On the matter of the troublesome security wall, the minutes read: “The east/west concrete wall constructed by RIU along the Mammee Bay beach road caused massive erosion of our beachfront, damage to the Beach Club property, as well as destruction of our boundary wall. A section of RIU’s wall also collapsed onto our property during the period of heavy rainfall.

“The Club made several requests to RIU to see their storm water management plan that is supposed to have been passed by the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA). To date, there has been no response from RIU to any of our requests. They have started to reconstruct the collapsed wall, and in doing so, are trespassing on the Club’s property to carry out such work. Mr Donaldson is to write to RIU advising them of the trespass.

“Since RIU has not complied with any request to see the storm water plan, directors will seek to obtain a copy from NEPA.All water from the main road had natural filtering system onto lots 1 and 2 but RIU has now blocked the natural pathway of the water with the construction of the wall,” the minutes complained.

Uncooperative, confrontational neighbour

In the years from 2005 to 2007, the struggle with Riu continued. A paper on the problems was prepared in September 2007, describing RIU as “an uncooperative, confrontational neighbour” which had “consistently failed to honour any promises made to the board and any obligations arising out of the construction and environmental problems they created”.

The residents charged that RIU had not shared with their board any of the architectural, storm water disposal and sewage plans that were promised.

“They have channeled run-off, wastewater into a drain on our beach property, have created a stagnant, foul, bacteria-laden pool of effluent at the northeastern end of our beach, and have illegally constructed a wall in our drain that is parallel to our property. What is worse is that they erected a high wall adjacent to Beach Road and deliberately and effectively blocked the drain that for decades facilitated the flow of storm water onto the historical wetland on which they have built their hotel complex.

“Despite several meetings with their managerial and legal staff, board members and representatives of the St Ann Parish Council, RIU has consistently ignored with impunity directives from the St Ann Parish Council which seems to be impotent with regard to achieving conformity from the hotel.

“But what is more alarming is their total disregard of agreements made on October 27, 2005, with Hon Paul Robertson, the prime minister’s representative, to accept the findings and recommendations made by an impartial arbitrator, Mr John Allgrove, to resolve the problems of the disposal of storm water and sewage, the blocking of the drain on Beach Road, and the construction of an illegal wall in our beach property drain.”

In an increasingly angry, desperate tone, the residents declared that the problems with RIU arose “as a result of RIU’s arrogant attitude of scornful disregard for their neighbours”.

They also blamed the government (PNP) for not protecting its citizens while encouraging the healthy growth of the tourist industry.

“It seems that the only meaningful approach at this time is to seek legal redress in the courts. .It will require (members) dipping into their pockets in support of efforts to resolve our problems,” the paper said.

Ruddy Spencer wanted the media kept out

The Mammee Bay residents continued their fight, refusing to give in to RIU, but by 2008 there were signs they were beginning to tire. Half the number of people who normally attended meetings turned out for an extraordinary general meeting held on March 30, 2008.

Importantly, Chairman Ken Thompson reported that Health Minister Rudyard Spencer had met, on January 4, 2008, with the board of Mammee Bay, along with representatives of RIU, NEPA, the St Ann Parish Council and the media. The minutes said Spencer instructed NEPA to prepare a report recommending that RIU correct the sewage and storm water drainage problems the hotel had created.

“We understand that the report was completed by NEPA and submitted to Michael Morris, secretary/ manager of the St Ann Parish Council. The chairman contacted Michael Morris re a meeting to discuss the contents of the report and was informed that because of government protocol the Parish Council could not release the report,” said the minutes.

It said Spencer had promised to have another meeting with the Club in February 2008, but “this has not taken place”.

With the problems with RIU persisting, the residents began looking to media exposure as the answer. It was suggested that a demonstration be organised and the media be invited.

“However, the chairman advised that the minister had asked the Club to keep the media out of the RIU problem.”

The suggestions got more desperate. “An effective way to deal with RIU,” the minutes continued, “might be to highlight the RIU problem on a website for the world to see. Also, if a demonstration is being organised, this should be done in front of RIU’s guests.What brought the minister of health to Mammee Bay in January was the television coverage of the sewage discharge problem aired on CVM Television and, once again, it might be necessary to get the media involved if the government fails to fix the problem.”

Said the residents: “.The government is obviously afraid of the media as Minister Spencer told reporters on January 4 that he does not want anymore reports on RIU in the press. This is clear indication that the government and RIU fear media publicity.”

In the meantime, the residents believed that “from all indications, there must be a reason for the government not wanting to share the NEPA report with the Club”. “One member was very skeptical of the report and noted that he does not trust it as he feels there is collusion on the part of government agencies.”

It continued: “.The Club could contact the Office of the Public Defender with a view to solving the RIU problem. However, it was pointed out that this would be ‘flogging a dead horse’ as this is another government entity.

The only way to deal with RIU is to do something in the media that will embarrass them. Otherwise, they are not going to budge.”

The first part of this special report was carried yesterday in the Sunday Observer.