Emilio Wilson Estate B.V. says
groups refusing to meet with it
By Alita Singh
PHILIPSBURG/THE NETHERLANDS--The controversy surrounding Emilio Wilson Estate and the rejected development plan continues with interested developer Emilio Wilson Estate (EWE) B.V. claiming groups that lobby to save the estate have refused to participate in discussions with the company.
EWE B.V. managing director Rien Chabot said letters inviting them to meet with EWE to discuss the plans and answer questions had been sent to Emilio Wilson Historical and Cultural Park, Emilio Wilson Estate Foundation, St. Maarten National Heritage Foundation, Nature Foundation St. Maarten and St. Maarten Pride Foundation.
Other than Nature Foundation, the other groups expressed unwillingness to meet via their legal representative Jeroen Veen of Lexwell and Associates, Chabot said in a press statement.
“Not one soul ever made any effort to contact or reply to EWE B.V.,” Chabot said. “Are they using the same tactics of which they normally accuse the St Maarten Government? The tactics of non-openness and non-frankness with which they allegedly pretend to be disgusted.”
Countering this claim, Veen told The Daily Herald the groups, including Pride Foundation which never received an invitation, had mandated him to meet with EWE B.V. This was communicated to the company, but was rejected because EWE B.V. wanted to meet with the groups separately and without legal representation.
The groups don’t want to speak with EWE B.V. and the company does not own the estate as stated by Chabot, Veen added. The groups “don’t want to give the impression that they regard the company as the owners.”
Chabot maintained the company had purchased the estate in 2005 and all supporting documents had been supplied to Veen after the groups’ joint petition to be admitted as an interested party in the EWE B.V. Administrative Court and Island Council appeal cases against Government’s rejection in June of its planning permit was accepted by the presiding judge.
Veen will file a 37-page response today to the EWE B.V. 31-page appeal against the planning permit denial.
This exchange of documents, according to Chabot, makes the groups’ stance on ownership “even less understandable.”
There is no truth to the ownership claim, said Veen. “They [the company] signed a document with former Deputy Minister Plenipotentiary Henri Brookson in 2005 to buy the estate, but Brookson did not own it then and does not own it now.”
Further, the attorney said, the foundations support Government’s decision to reject the company’s request for as planning permit and “don’t want to give the impression to Government or anyone else that they still consider an understanding or compromise about development of the estate a possibility.”
The groups want the entire estate preserved as a monument or nature area in line with the Island Council motion of September 20, 2005.
EWE B.V. wants to develop approximately 45 per cent of the lower part of Industry and Golden Rock, which form part of Emilio Wilson Estate in Cul de Sac, for single family houses with “very high quality infrastructure with integrated horizontal roads, a unique water management system that is unknown on the island and that will positively influence the existing drainage problems in this area,” Chabot said.
He added that EWE B.V. always had highly respected the existing historical objects on the estate and the development plan contained a full restoration of the “slave walls.” In addition, cooperation would be given to restore and renovate the Plantation House and annexes.
Further, Emilio Wilson Cultural and Historical Park would not be affected in any way. The property above 200 meters on Sentry Hill would not be touched and would be preserved for St. Maarten’s residents and future generations. The development, based on the Government rejected plan, represented an approximate investment of US $60 million, Chabot said.
Government denied a planning permit for the estate development based on its archaeological and historical importance to the island and no clear line of ownership of the property. The archaeological report, compiled by Dr. Jay Haviser, was commissioned by Government.
Emilio Wilson Estate encompass the ruins of St. Maarten’s first Governor John Philips’ house, the old boiler house and school dating to the 1700s that were the dwelling of the late Emilio Wilson, a burial ground known as Slave Yard, a water well, a spring and two natural caves at the top of Sentry Hill.
Doctor’s Yard, where the ruins of Doctor Millard’s House stand, is in Emilio Wilson Historical and Cultural Park, which forms part of the estate.
The estate further boasts Kenepa Garden, where 53 slaves were born, worked, lived and were buried. Part of Kenepa Garden was used as Negro Grounds where the slaves planted ground provisions.
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