By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

All parties to the Bahamas Ferries controversy in Abaco are sticking to the agreed resolution “road map” after it was almost derailed by an unexpected planning approval.

James Albury, parliamentary secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office in Abaco, told Tribune Business that the inter-island transportation operator had agreed to abide by its pledge not to continue developing a parking lot besides the publicly-owned Union Jack Dock.

This commitment, given in an early afternoon meeting on Monday, was almost undone hours later after the Central Abaco District Council’s Town Planning Board that night granted the necessary approvals for Bahamas Ferries and its contractors to proceed with the parking lot’s construction.

This immediately prompted the Marsh Harbour/Spring City Township, among the most vehement opponents of Bahamas Ferries using the public dock to transport employees and construction workers from Marsh Harbour to the multi-million dollar Baker’s Bay development, to file an appeal against the Town Planning Board’s decision.

Amid fears that the Township would walk away from the previously-agreed path to resolving the controversy, Mr Albury said he had obtained reassurances from Bahamas Ferries that it had no intention of acting on the approvals – something it has lived up to subsequently.

As a result, all sides remain on course to meet this coming Monday and propose their respective solutions – including an alternative embarkation/disembarkation location – to concerns surrounding the company’s continued use of a public dock for commercial purposes, and the resulting parking/traffic congestion in Marsh Harbour.

The latest developments came as Bahamas Ferries contract with Baker’s Bay suffered another hit – this time in the form of a Thursday afternoon collision with another vessel as its boat attempted to dock at Union Jack and offload scores of workers.

Tribune Business’s picture shows the damage caused by striking the MV Legacy, although it is unclear who was at fault, and Bahamas Ferries vessel was said by observers to have been operating as normal yesterday.

“Bahamas Ferries was turning to let people off and the wind came along,” one source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said. “They’ve still been going back and forth as if nothing happened, and the damage is not as severe as in that picture.”

The incident, though, will likely intensify concerns over Bahamas Ferries’ use of a public dock and raise the urgency for all parties to come up with alternative locations.

Mr Albury, meanwhile, confirmed that the Prime Minister had visited Abaco last Friday to meet “with the various stakeholders” involved in the Bahamas Ferries situation “to hear from all sides” and encourage them to find a resolution.

Some observers may be surprised over Dr Hubert Minnis’s direct involvement, given that is Bahamas Ferries’ third largest shareholder, owning 305 of the company’s 5,015 ordinary shares or just six percent.

However, Mr Albury said of the Prime Minister: “It was his desire that we all meet again, which we did on Monday – myself, Montez Williams from the Prime Minister’s Office, the Marsh Harbour/Spring City Township and Bahamas Ferries.

“There was a good amount of back and forth, and we concluded the meeting with an agreement that Fast Ferries would leave all work on the parking lot construction, and local government would compromise in the short-term interim to allow them to use Union Jack Dock for their vessel.

“We set a meeting for this coming Monday, and both sides will provide for an alternative location for this service. Both Bahamas Ferries and the township, when they have a meeting this coming Monday, the intent is both sides have their alternatives and hopefully among those will be some sort of mutually acceptable solution.”

Mr Albury acknowledged, though, that within hours that agreement was threatened by the town planning approval granted to the Bahamas Ferries parking lot by the central Abaco district council.

“I spoke to all relevant parties following those events, and it’s still the intention of Bahamas Ferries to continue the arrangement and they will not be doing any work on that parking lot before the meeting next week,” he told Tribune Business.

“I don’t think there’s any intention to breach it. I sincerely hope the township still intends to attend that meeting. Hopefully the faith is kept, as I believe it should be, but I understand them wanting to follow through with the appeal process.”

A copy of the Marsh Harbour/Spring City Township’s appeal, dated February 12, cites six grounds including an alleged “conflict of interest”.

It argued that Mr Cornish, the town planning chairman, should have recused himself from hearing the Bahamas Ferries

application because he is an employer of the Baker’s Bay project – the entity that is a counterparty to the transportation contract, and the main beneficiary from it.

The Township argued that objections submitted prior to the meeting meant the parking lot application “should have been automatically deferred to the Council”, while alleging it was “unjust” that two planning board members - Scott Thompson and Danny Sawyer – were not allowed to participate because they were Marsh Harbour residents who had attended the Monday meeting with Bahamas Ferries.

On that basis, the Township argued that the central Abaco administrator, Ms Duncombe, should also have been excluded from deliberations because she was at the same Monday meeting.

The Township’s appeal, seen by Tribune Business, also queried why Bahamas Ferries’ application was “heard ahead of the outstanding plans” as the meeting was originally called to address a backlog that had built up since November 2018.

Arguing that the Town Planning Board had “disenfranchised” those waiting applications, and “done a disservice to residents of Marsh Harbour”, the Township pointed to the Prime Minister’s Friday, February 8, directive for all sides to work with Bahamas Ferries to find a solution.

Confirming the appeal, Roscoe Thompson, the Township’s chairman, told Tribune Business it still planned to attend Monday’s meeting with Bahamas Ferries.

“We plan to meet with them and still express our concerns, and that there’s other options besides the centre of town,” he said. “They have stopped work on the parking lot. They did honour that part, stopping work three weeks’ later.

“I do give them credit on that. They stopped work that morning, and there has been none ever since. The beginning of next week, we’ll have a good idea of where things are going.”

The parking lot was being constructed by Bahamas Hot Mix on land owned by Bethell Estates, Tribune Business understands, and which is confirmed by the Township’s planning appeal.

Mr Thompson, who also confirmed the Bahamas Ferries’ vessel’s collision with the MV Legacy, reiterated his belief that the company had entered Abaco “in the wrong way” by not first obtaining the necessary approvals for its use of the public dock and parking lot.

However, Mr Albury, who described his role as that of a “mediator” between Bahamas Ferries and the Township, in a bid to protect the public’s interest in the dock, expressed hope that a solution will be found on Monday.

“I think we’re close,” he told Tribune Business. “Persons’ concerns were made clear, and they [Bahamas Ferries] were receptive to those concerns. It’s a matter of seeing what they come back with, and the strategy moving forward. It will eventually result in a road map. The best hope is to agree some sort of accommodation everyone is happy with.”

Mr Albury said that despite the arguments over the use of Union Jack Dock, the bigger issue was ensuring 600-700 workers were able to reach work by travelling to and from Baker’s Bay every day.