DESPERATE APPEAL!
HMC urged to end squatting at Old Steamer Beach
Published:Thursday | August 4, 2022 | 12:06 AMBryan Miller/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
WITH SEVEN businesses now illegally occupying the eastern section of Old Steamer Beach in Hopewell, Hanover, the Hopewell Citizens Association (HCA) and the Hanover Parish Development Committee (HPDC) have raised their voices for the Hanover Municipal Corporation (HMC) to stop illegal occupation of that space.
In the space there are now one art gallery, one restaurant, one bar and jerk centre, two bars only, one coconut vendor and one building under construction for a bar, with two buildings that serve as outdoor washrooms.
The cry has come against the background of signs of increased illegal occupation, as two additional areas along the beach have been cleared for occupation since Emancipation Day 2022.
The area surrounding a 20-foot container that was dropped along the beach some time ago was bushed on the weekend, and an adjoining area was bushed and perimeter fence posts were planted.
Several residents of the growing community of Hopewell, which the beach serves, shared with The Gleaner concerns about an environmental and health problem in the making, based on the number of illegal buildings going up in close proximity to each other on the beach property.
President of the HCA, Derrick Wright, noted that he has already drawn attention to the most recent capturing of space along the Old Steamer Beach to the HMC councillor, Devon Brown.
“From 1997 the Ministry of Local Government met with the residents of Hopewell with a plan for the development of the beach, and from that time the HMC has done nothing, and now is allowing persons to capture sections of the beach, from the gas station going west,” Wright stated.
“The Hopewell Citizens Association is reaching out to the HMC to put the plan in action to get the beach developed, and stop allowing persons to be capturing the beach right before their eyes,” Wright argued.
He questioned how the present illegal occupiers of the beach property have manage to get connected to public utilities such as water and electricity, stating that some form of enquiry needs to take place, as they have no legal documentation for the property they are now occupying.
Wright noted that several letters have been written to the HMC over the years about squatting along the beach property, along with the health and environmental concerns of the residents, but no action has been forthcoming from the HMC.
Brown, councillor for the Hopewell division, told The Gleaner that the recent clearing of land along the Old Steamer Beach has been brought to his attention, and he has notified the relevant department within the HMC for immediate action to be taken.
“Whosoever is clearing that section of the land is wasting their time and money, and I do not know if they are just being mischievous,” Brown told The Gleaner.
DEVELOPMENT
“We at the HMC have plans for the development of all that entire corridor of land, and no permit has been given to anyone to do any development there,” he added.
Brown pointed out that the HMC had taken a decision for some time now to remove the 20-foot container, which had been placed in the area several years ago. Further, he said that from the point of view of the HMC, it will be more urgent to remove the container at this point.
“As we speak, the HMC enforcement officers visited the site today, the posts that were planted should be demolished, and an enforcement notice served,” he said on Tuesday.
The Gleaner was informed that when the HMC enforcement officers visited the site, a Haitian national was seen clearing the land, and when questioned, he stated that he was just given a job to clear the area, he knows nothing about ownership of the land.
Chairman of the Hanover PDC, Petra Vernon-Foster, was not convinced that the HMC will be taking any definitive action about the situation. However, she stated that it all started with one illegal occupier several years ago, and has grown to seven over time.
It was noted that even while the HMC enforcement officers were at the site serving notice on the empty container, construction was taking place on a concrete structure 30 metres up the beach, which they overlooked and did nothing about.
She, too, questioned how the present occupiers of the area are getting connected to public utilities.
“There are a lot of businesses there now, and they must have gotten permission from the HMC to be there, because they have water and other public utilities connected to their shops,” she stated.
She expressed concern that over time the community would be losing the beach, because of pollution.
“I do not agree with it (capture land), as these persons who are capturing the beach land, where does the sewage and other waste water from their shops go?” she questioned.
She called for the HMC to do something about the situation now, by putting a stop to it before it gets beyond where they can properly handle it.