NIGHTMARE
MONTEGO BAY, St James — A plan by the developers of Secrets Resorts to construct a 10-storey, 281-room hotel on 4 acres of land in Montego Freeport has earned the ire of residents who say the proposed Dreams Resort and Spa will lead to environmental harm and noise pollution, as well as place additional strain on already struggling infrastructure.
In April, after the residents registered their objections to the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA), they were invited to a meeting with the State agency and representatives of the developers, Seawind Key Investments Limited (SKIL). However, Freeport Peninsula Association Chairman Ian Dear told the Jamaica Observer that questions and concerns raised at the meeting, held on April 26, have been left unanswered.
“We feel as if we are being railroaded into this project and so we are asking the authorities to do whatever they need to do to put an immediate stop to this until all of the issues are properly aired and the questions that have been asked of NEPA and other relevant agencies are properly addressed,” Dear said.
“They acknowledged the questions but we haven’t received any responses, so that is a great concern. That is why it comes across like there is a rubber stamp taking place and I’m hoping not. We are still optimistic that NEPA will go about it the right way,” he continued.
The chairman added, “The community is very suspicious, we don’t like what we are seeing and hearing. It seems as if things are going forward, whether the community agrees or not, and we are asking for us to have a fair position where our concerns are met.”
Efforts by the Observer to get a response from NEPA and SKIL have so far been unsuccessful.
“We don’t consider ourselves to be unreasonable people, but as it stands right now, we feel that this development should not move forward as designed,” Dear argued. “The hotel should not be allowed to develop the way it has been proposed — 10 floors on 2.5 acres, right on top of the community, is just not right.”
Additionally, Dear noted that there are plans to construct a three-storey parking lot adjacent to the Emerald Cay community in Freeport. This plan, he said, should be reconsidered as it will be a major inconvenience for residents with this parking lot towering over their homes.
“Certainly, the car park should not happen. The car park needs to be outside of Freeport and they need to have a shuttle system to bring in whoever they need to get in,” said the chairman.
“We understand that development will happen and we understand that this is a community that was designed to be for both residential and commercial [properties], but the reality is that there is a great deal of residential properties, so if Secrets really had good intentions they shouldn’t be coming in with [these] plans and even though they are talking to the community, what they are proposing is not reasonable and is certainly not a representative of being good corporate citizens,” Dear added.
A prominent Freeport resident told the Observer that a number of red flags have been raised in their minds since the meeting was held in late April.
“One of the things that came out in the meeting is that they [SKIL] don’t have to do an environmental impact assessment (EIA) for the project and concerns were expressed to say look, it is a new project, why not an EIA? We were told that the lady who was there from NEPA could not answer, as she was only there to observe,” said the resident who asked not to be named.
“But we were told by the developer that there was no need for them to do an EIA for the project and a lot of residents are saying that is strange. Right now there are too many gray areas that are leaving people uncomfortable.”
Noting that there is also a concern regarding the heavy traffic expected to come with this new development on the already narrow Freeport main road, resident Dr Geoffrey Williams accused the hotel’s management of being “dismissive” of their concerns.
“There is also a roundabout which is a traffic hazard. We have beseeched Secrets to do something about the cars parking on the roundabout, which, as you know, in Jamaica is illegal, but like everything else, they have just not responded. They are very dismissive whenever there is a complaint,” he said.
“The entrance to this new hotel, I am not sure how it is going to work because it is very close to, if not in the roundabout, so I don’t know how on earth something like that could ever be allowed to take place. The traffic on the Freeport is already an issue and to add that many rooms on a little over two acres of land, it is clear for anybody to see what is going to happen,” Williams added.
“We at Ocean Pines had to put up signs warning people to not park on our sidewalk because there is just nowhere to park and they are just expanding without any concern or regard for this kind of thing,” he said.
Two weeks ago, Alesha Peart, chair of the Soleil Residences Management Committee, wrote to NEPA boss Peter Knight registering the residents’ “strong opposition” to the new hotel, saying that it will undoubtedly have a serious negative impact on the residents’ standard of living.
Peart also argued that the proposed hotel will strain the delicate water, sewerage, and road infrastructure in Freeport.
Additionally, she said the residents “are currently being disturbed by the music emitting from Secrets and Breathless hotels, and the proposed expansion will exacerbate further nuisance for the residential community.
Added Peart, “We note that the current proposal for the expansion did not address noise impact or provide any mitigation measures for the development to minimise noise, nor did the drawings from the presentation show entertainment areas, ie, pool, showtime area, etc. As a general principle of planning, where there is possible noise disturbance this is deemed imperative.”