| Forum urges Chalk Sound land investigation | | Print | |
| Thursday, 15 July 2010 11:24 | |||
 A full investigation into illegal residential development allowed in the Chalk Sound National Park is needed to identify and punish those responsible for failing to follow the country’s laws and policies, the Consultative Forum members said Tuesday, July 13. “When persons charged with the responsibility to enforce the law fail or refuse to do so, it must result in reprimand,” said forum Chairwoman Lillian Misick. She told the forum that “197 acres in the park has been divested to 96 individuals and companies to undertake development inconsistent with the law.” The list of property owners “includes attorneys, eminent counsel, persons who hold high office in the Planning Department, and others in whom significant responsibility for promoting development is vested and invested,” Misick said. On her suggestion, the forum also called on the government to publish a list of all those who got property and on the attorney general to make sure no more illegal development occurs in the Turks and Caicos. Some of those property owners have said they did not know the land was in the park until they were told beginning in September that residential construction was not permitted there. The interim government has told property owners that they cannot build on the property but may be given other available Crown land. For a few who have built there, the government is considering compensation. “I am very sorry and aggrieved over the plight of those persons who expended resources in construction, but I must I must stand on the side of right in upholding the laws of this land,” Misick said. “Certainly we cannot and ought not sanction the abdication of the parties involved, be it the governor, the deputy governor, the attorney general, the director of planning and planning officials of their responsibility to protect the national natural heritage which our Legislature sought to protect,” she said. She said it was “mystifying” that the governor and deputy governor would grant development permission within protected areas, where only recreational use by the public is allowed. Construction of roads, buildings and marinas may be allowed but only “to the minimum consistent with the reasonable access to an enjoyment of the area by members of the public,” she said, quoting from the National Parks and Protected Areas Ordinance. The director of planning can only grant development permission allowed by the ordinance and only after an environmental impact assessment of the development. “The apparent deliberate removal of the National Trust and Environmental Health representation from the Planning Board leaves one to wonder if it was not a calculated move to deprive us and future generations of our national natural resource for the benefit of the few,” she said. Assuming that all property owners retained lawyers to handle their property transactions, Misick said those lawyers had a duty to make sure all laws were followed. “It is clear that the process for granting land and permission to build was compromised and the law was breached,” Misick said. “We must not be afraid to tell persons holding office that they are wrong.” “We need to do what is right,” she said. “And despite how we may feel and the emotions that we may have with respect to all of those who have invested resources, the law is the law.” Most forum members agreed with Misick’s requests, but some were more worried about the property owners, especially the few who had built. Drexwell Seymour said the most important issue was what will happen to the property owners and who will compensate them. He said helping those people did not seem to be a priority for the interim government because nothing has been done to relocate the property owners since they were informed in September they could not build. “Somebody will have to pay, but we don’t know who,” Misick said. Dr. Linda Williams said it was important for the forum to know exactly what happened before making a recommendation on how to resolve the situation of the property owners.
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