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There is concern and a little bit of controversy tonight in San Pedro over a new housing development on the island. Canadian developer David Mitchell has been given approval and has started to carve out 421 parcels of land on a 63 point 2 acre plot of land in south San Pedro. But the Ambergris Caye citizens for sustainable development has sounded the alarm because of its location and are demanding answers from their town council because of its involvement. Keith Swift has the story.

Keith Swift Reporting,
This is a satellite image of the future site of the controversial Sugar Caye Development Subdivision. The subdivision will be located here on the south side of San Pedro, here on San Pedro it is called south San Pedro and the problem those in opposition to the project have is that the subdivision will be located right next to the island’s sewer pond. That’s right, the subdivision will be built next to where the island waste is treated and then released.

Catherine Paz, Vice Chairman – ACCSD
“There are definitely health concerns. We can’t have our citizens living in that area. I don’t think anyone would want to live back there. That area has specific buffer zones and we have to respect what is back there.”

Keith Swift,
And then the mangroves are there also and those will be cut down.

Catherine Paz,
“Well the mangroves right now act as a buffer for the sewer ponds and they have a canal that they’ve dug there. When it starts filtering out the canal will lead all the sewer that hasn’t been filtered into the lagoon. I mean that is just bad for the whole environment; the fishermen – you know everybody.”

But Frank Panton whose been hired by the developer to ensure environmental compliance says that the development will help the area’s environment.

Frank Panton, Environmental Engineer
“We will be developing the area which has been abused before and this is the area that was scooped up and used as fill for both the road to the sewer system as well as the DFC area. We’re going to improve this area, at the moment it has mangroves growing there but the mangroves are crippled, they are about four feet high more or less at the most and about half of it is just scooped to earth. We are going to improve it. We will develop the interflow of water using a canal system and at the same time the canals will provide the material for levelling of the area. As close as it is to the sewer lagoon it is a benefit because then the whole development will automatically have their access to the sewer ponds which is as healthy as you can get.”

Keith Swift,
The developers say they will actually be helping the environment because they will make the area clean.

Catherine Paz,
“I am not an environmental expert, I can’t help you there but just you know from what we have experienced and what we have gone through here in the past 25 years that I have been involved in tourism, I don’t see how.”

Keith Swift,
What is the level of your involvement in the project in the sense that it seems that all the permits, the ECP and that were submitted by the Town Council and not the company that you work for?

Frank Panton,
“Well one permit is indeed issued to David Mitchell on behalf of Sugar Caye Development Limited. That is a permit that was issued last week.”

This is that permit to dredge which begin last week.

Frank Panton,
“Yes it has started already. In fact there are two dredging permits out there. One is for the Port Authority to have a canal dug along the roadside where there is a whole bunch of illegal dumps, mostly building materials. That will improve the area, we will clean up the garbage and the canals will then be planted with mangroves on the sides to make the area far more healthy than it is right now. I will want to say that I will be proud that this project will show other people how to do development.”

Catherine Paz,
“We are definitely not against development. We just want development to start being sustainable. We live on an island, we have fragile ecosystems that support our most treasured barrier reef, the barrier reef is the backbone of our tourism industry and many mistakes have been made, I keep on saying this, and we just want to move forward and avoid those mistakes happening again.”

And in the middle of all this is the San Pedro Town Council which gave more than its blessing to the development. In July of 2008 the Town Council submitted the environmental compliance plan for approval to the Department of Environment. And then in November of last year, it was Mayor Elsa Paz and Area Representative and Minister of Tourism Manuel Heredia Jr. who wrote to the Belize Port Authority – asking them to grant a permit to David Mitchell so he can dredge through two parcels of land belonging the Port Authority.

So why is the San Pedro Town Council putting its neck on the line for a private development? Well we wanted to ask Mayor Elsa Paz but she was unavailable. Her deputy Nestor Gomez promised us an interview but then reneged.

And if the name of the developer David Mitchell sounds familiar, that is because it should. According to our archives, on July 11th of last year David Mitchell, through his Costa del Sol Development Company, donated half a million dollars to the San Pedro Town Council for beautification of streets. That date was again July of 2008 – the same month when the Town Council submitted the environmental compliance plan for David Mitchell’s project. David Mitchell is currently out of the country.