Stumbling block!

A prominent businessman is calling on Prime Minister Mia Mottley to intervene in a longstanding battle between his company and authorities over the development of land at Carlisle Bay, Bay Street, St Michael that was bought from the Barbados Tourism Investment Inc. (BTII) in 2019.

Director of Savoy Development (Barbados) Inc. Allan Kinch is seeking answers about why the development was being blocked and suggested that Mottley’s intervention could prevent a major tourism project from being disrupted.

In an interview with

, public relations representative for Savoy Development (Barbados) Inc., Sarah Taylor, said the developer had been facing multiple challenges in dealings with various government departments and statutory corporations, most notably the Town Planning Department and the National Conservation Commission (NCC).

The company had purchased the more than one-acre beachfront property which included three parcels of land – the old eye ward, the Savoy and open window, and jetty – for $4 million when the BTII advertised it for development and/or sale in April 2014. Taylor said that while the purchase transaction began that same year, it was not finalised until five years later.

“It went through in 2019 after the Barbados Labour Party was elected and they were able to do their investigations and from that time to this, I am very sad to say that we have been severely victimised . . . and I am more than disappointed and heartbroken by the current state of events,” she said.

Savoy Development (Barbados) Inc.’s original proposal to the BTII was to erect a 351-room five-star hotel on the site, rebuild the jetty, and renovate the old eye ward.

Due to the long period of time the purchase/sale agreement took to be completed, those plans were changed, taking into account the considerations of the Government and the community regarding public amenities and the height of the hotel.

Until Kinch could obtain permission for what was reduced to a 24-unit condominium building and public facilities on 60 feet of land, he applied for temporary permission for an events venue, beach bar and food truck park. He is also renovating the old eye ward into offices and washrooms. Taylor said there are also plans to incorporate community projects and offer swimming scholarships to young people living in the area but she feared these were now “under threat” too.

She added that at one point in time, Kinch was collaborating with an investor who wanted to pump US$180 million into the property and that investment would have created more than 1 000 jobs.

The spokesperson said management was “disappointed” that a significant part of the development plans on the property was being hampered for unknown reasons.

“If what is going on is continued to be allowed to go on then everything is in jeopardy . . . . All we have been asking for years is to meet if there is something more that you would like us to do . . . ,” she said.

A request for a beach vendor licence to enable the company to rent beach chairs on the property was denied on July 20, 2020, in a letter signed by a representative of the NCC for general manager Ryan Als. Then on September 23 this year, the company was served with a letter from the Town Planning Department stating that it had to stop work within 28 days.

“ . . . . We are being told . . . that Mr Kinch does not own the accreted land of the property and it is being suggested that he only owns the area close to the road and the old eye ward,” Taylor said.

“As you would have seen from the conveyances and the land tax bills, all of the accreted land is within the conveyances. The land was owned by BTII, it was sold to Mr Kinch, the government surveyor surveyed it with the accreted land [and] the square metres in the conveyances and the plans and the land tax all include the accreted land. Mr. Kinch paid for the accreted land and is paying land tax on the accreted land.”

According to the Country Experience In Land Issues document prepared on April 24, 2003 by principal legal officer in the Ministry of Housing and Lands Timothy Maynard, the Common Law Doctrine of Accretion states that “where lands are bounded by water, for example, the sea, any accretions to those lands above the high-water mark fall to be added to the landowner provided that those accretions were ‘gradual and imperceptible’.”

Lamenting the inability to continue with the plans, Taylor said a number of people in the community had reached out and expressed how happy they were about the development as it beautified the area. She said they liked the proposed idea of the jetty being rebuilt which would allow people to safely board various seacrafts and would be accessible to the disabled community.

“It is devastatingly hurtful to be treated in such a deplorable way in one’s own country. Our Prime Minister brought us back from the brink of disaster, we appreciate that tremendously, but we simply ask for fairness. How can it be right that a Barbadian buys land on the beach front and is not even allowed to put out a chair for a friend or a complimentary chair for a customer at his bar?

“Why are we being victimised when there are so many others operating . . . their own projects and have faced no repercussions but instead have been shown great support?…. Fairness, we seek fairness,” Taylor maintained.

When contacted about the matter, Minister of Housing, Lands and Maintenance Dwight Sutherland declined to comment.

In June 2020, then Minister of Environment and National Beautification Trevor Prescod publicly disputed Savoy Development (Barbados) Inc.’s claim to beach land, stating that it belonged to the Crown. He oversaw the removal of several palm trees that the company had planted on the beach, saying no permission had been given.

sheriabrathwaite@barbadostoday.bb