The Tribune

The Save the Bays environmental activist group is supporting the Abaco Defenders over its plans to launch a Judicial Review challenge in the courts to block the Treasure Sands resort development.

The group’s plans were announced in a statement quoting North Abaco’s chief councillor as lamenting the three-week delay in handing the developers a ‘cease-and-desist’ order issues by the Government.

“I don’t blame the developer,” said Gary Smith. “Nor do I blame the Government in Nassau. The minister of state for investmentsm Khaalis Rollem did the proper and honourable thing and we are very grateful to him for recognising that protecting the environment. Pproceeding with the right permits is important for the long-term sustainable growth and development of any community.”

But Mr Smith said delivery of the ‘cease and desist’ order to the developers was delayed once it got to Abaco, and an investigation was ongoing to learn why it was not presented for some three weeks after it arrived, enough time for centuries of mangrove, wetlands and hardwood forests to be cleared.

The Abaco Council, together with the Abaco Defenders and Save The Bays, are trying to get to the bottom of the delay.

“In the three weeks between when the cease and desist order was signed and when it was actually presented to the developer, irreparable damage was done to the wetlands in Treasure Cay,” said Mr Smith.

“Before, this place was a haven - a sanctuary for birds and bonefish. You could see the nurse sharks coming in and the baby nurse sharks. The wetlands were the nursery for all sorts of species.” The Bahamas National Trust had plans to turn the area into a national park.

Mr Smith expressed concern that the eradication of the wetlands and dredging could increase flooding. “If I lived nearby I would be very worried because of the tidal effect,” he said. “Since the area was denuded, it can flood with a high tide of three to four feet instead of 11-12 feet, and there is a church right across the street. Residents should be very afraid.”

But Tim Blakeley, the Treasure Sands Club’s vice-president, had previously told Tribune Business that the dredging had actually improved the creek and surrounding environment.

“There’s been so much propaganda out there about what we’re trying to do,” he said. “What we’ve dredged now is all we want to do.”

Emphasising that the developers had dredged to a depth of three feet at low tide, Mr Blakeley said there were no plans to develop a marina to attract large boats, or set up a fuel dock.

Instead, the developers wanted to construct a 200-foot boardwalk, and four 25-feet feeder piers, with the focus placed on small boats.

He added that “contrary to popular belief”, the Treasure Sands Club had removed cars, washing machines and 20 bags of garbage from the nearby creek, and the dredging had allowed water to naturally flow and cycle through it once again.

Mr Blakeley asserted that lemon sharks, barracudas, snappers and turtles were once again “swimming up the channel”, while the developers had opened up the area to bonefishing enthusiasts. No sustainable fish breeding grounds had previously existed, and when the tide went out it created a bad smell.

However, Mr Smith was not alone in his concerns over what the development is doing to the beach.

“When Treasure Sands Bar and Spa first opened, we were all excited and delighted,” said resident Fiona Bootle. “Unfortunately, the excitement was short-lived and we were most definitely not prepared for the destruction that would take place to our home.”

Nor, she said, were residents prepared for what they felt was “abandonment” by the Government, including the Antiquities, Monuments and Museums Corporation (AMMC).

“The AMMC, which is supposed to protect the cultural and historically sensitive areas of the Bahamas, refuses to believe that the land being destroyed was part of Abaco’s first Loyalist settlement of Carleton. The AMMC disregarded the opinion of world renowned archeologist Robert Carr, who first helped find the site 30 years ago. To date, the AMMC have decided not to come over and take a look themselves,” Ms Bootle said.

However, the BEST (Bahamas Environment, Science and Technology) Commission did visit in February 2014. To date, the Abaco Defenders has not received word of its findings.

“It’s very sad,” says the c