Opposition blasts Govt on
Caravanserai/airport issue
PHILIPSBURG--National Alliance (NA) and People’s Progressive Alliance (PPA) have criticised government for the way it has been handling the planning permit request by Caravanserai Beach Resort to expand its number of rooms.
NA was mostly concerned about the long delay in handling the planning permit request, which dates to April 2005, while PPA was extremely worried about safety and the objection filed by Princess Juliana International Airport operating company PJIAE against the project’s proximity and height.
The project filed by Caravanserai/Kildare Properties NV involves five new buildings, one of them three storeys high and four of them five storeys high, bringing the number of available rooms to 218, to be built at Beacon Hill, south of the airstrip. The maximum height of the buildings will be 15.85 metres.
In PJIAE’s opinion, however, construction will interfere with the obstacle free zone of landing aircraft, because the buildings are too high and too close to the runway and the approach route, leaving insufficient manoeuvring room and emergency escape route. The reasons are technical, but mention a transition surface, the elevation of the runway and a distance of 150 metres.
PJIAE is measuring from sea level, but the Department of Civil Aviation is of the opinion that the slope of the transitional surface starts at the elevation of the runway. The department said the construction wouldn’t negatively affect execution of a missed approach by an aircraft. The department concluded that the construction would not violate the rules and regulations of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).
The airport formally objected in August 2005 to the decision by the Executive Council to grant a planning permit to Caravanserai.
PPA Councilwoman Gracita Arrindell wondered why government was not giving the airport the benefit of the doubt, despite the fact that the committee of experts had advised that PJIAE’s objection be declared null and void.
According to the committee of experts, which drafted a report early September, close to a year after it was decided to have the committee look into the airport’s objection, PJIAE’s arguments didn’t hold water.
Arrindell supported PJIAE’s concerns. She said the airport maintained that the fact that the area was already congested had nothing to do with the request being in compliance with ICAO’s rules and regulations. She said the airport should have had an opportunity to respond to the report by the committee of experts.
Arrindell said PPA’s main concern had to do with “safety.” She said that while this was an ordinary request to grant a planning permit to expand a hotel, the location in close proximity to the airport required extraordinary steps not to leave any doubt in regard to the safety of residents and visitors.
Councilman William Marlin slammed government for its delay in dealing with the planning permit request, which in his opinion should have been a simple affair. He said the reason given that the committee had to overcome some internal matters was a “lame excuse” and “unacceptable.” He demanded an explanation of “what went wrong.”
He said the request had been submitted in April 2005 and only now, a year and a half later, the Island Council was handling the issue. He said this was sending the wrong signal to investors who wanted to develop the island and create jobs. “It is chilling news for investors that they have to wait so long,” he said.
Marlin noted that Caravanserai was building luxury units, including condominiums and penthouses, as well as a health spa. He said the resort had been closed for a number of years until it was purchased in 1997 and renovated. Before that, he said, the resort, also damaged by fire, had been an eyesore. He said the resort’s re-opening also brought back life to the area.
He also accused the Executive Council of preferential treatment. He said Commissioner of Public Works Roy Marlin had “bent over backwards” to accommodate the Columbia Sussex group developing a Westin hotel at Dawn Beach, while Caravanserai had been put on the back burner.
Roy Marlin said he agreed with William Marlin that a project of this nature couldn’t continue to go through circumstances as it had in the past with a closure and fire. He said he didn’t want to compare the Westin project at Dawn Beach to Caravanserai Resort’s plan. He said Dawn Beach didn’t have an airport around it.
Both Arrindell and her colleague George Pantophlet of NA asked why the issue hadn’t been discussed beforehand in the Central Committee. Arrindell also suggested a visit of the Island Council to the site for members to personally apprise themselves of the situation.
Democratic Party (DP) Councilwoman Maria Buncamper-Molanus, who also chairs the Central Committee, noted that only draft legislation had to go through the Central Committee. She said advice had been requested and received on the planning permit. She said it wasn’t a question of dumping documents and telling the Island Council to approve.
Buncamper-Molanus said government had even decided to investigate PJIAE’s claim, even though the airport protested after the 30 days had passed when the planning permit request was on public review from mid-April to mid-May. Strictly speaking, that meant that the airport legally hadn’t even had an objection. She announced that DP would present a motion in the second round.
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