By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A former prime minister yesterday contradicted the developer of Goodman’s Bay’s proposed 14-storey penthouse complex over the existence and termination of beach easement access.

Dr Hubert Minnis, who is also Killarney’s MP, backed assertions by Edward Hoffer, a leading opponent of the Wynn Group’s project, that the development threatens to “suck up” an easement that runs alongside the side of his house and property next door.

Wynn executives told last Wednesday’s Town Planning Committee public hearing on the project that a legal opinion affirmed the easement, which gave the public an access route to Goodman’s Bay and the beach, was terminated “many, many years ago”.

However, Dr Minnis disputed this, telling this newspaper that easements and rights-of-way cannot be extinguished in such fashion. He called for a national programme to ensure that all easements are unblocked and Bahamians enjoy unimpeded access to public beaches.

“I know the easement is next to the Greek house. I know that is Hoffer. The Ministry of Works should have a map of that,” the ex-prime minister said. “There’s an easement for public access. That easement is still there. An easement cannot be terminated. Those were designed and placed there for the benefit of the Bahamian people so that they can have access to the beaches.

“The last Ingraham administration had started removing the fences and clearing access to those easements. My administration was proceeding with the same programme to ensure Bahamians have access to the beaches. Bahamians must have access to beach facilities and it’s essential to have a national programme to identify those easements for the benefit of Bahamians.”

Dr Minnis urged the Davis administration and Ministry of Works to “review the files to be able to determine where a lot of these easements are” and complete the initiative that his government had been working to finish. He said many private homeowners, whose properties bordered and were adjacent to New Providence easements, had placed hedges and picket fences across them to wrongly block public access.

“That should be a national programme that no government must be able to stop,” he added. “It must be completed so that all Bahamians, generations of the future, always have access to their beach facilities. Once easements are there they cannot be terminated.” The Killarney MP added that the easement discussed at the GoldWynn meeting would be clearly shown on the conveyance for Mr Hoffer’s property.

Addressing last week’s Town Planning meeting, Mr Hoffer argued: “There’s also an easement that runs along the side of my house, between lots eight and nine, which they did not take into consideration. They’re [Wynn] sucking up the easement, and that’s supposed to be a public easement for a pedestrian walkway” for Bahamians to access Goodman’s Bay and the beach

However, Randy Hart, Wynn Group’s vice-president, responded that the developer had been advised by its attorneys that the access route was “terminated” some time ago and therefore no longer a potential obstacle for what he indicated is a $125m investment.

“You raise a legal issue,” he added of Mr Hoffer. “We have a legal opinion that the easement was terminated many, many years ago. Obviously we would not put forward a project of this magnitude if we have a legal impediment such as that.

“We’re not trying to hide anything, we’re not trying to cover up anything. We have obviously done our homework, and there is no legal impediment or easement. People have access to that beach from either side of that property.”

Dr Minnis, meanwhile, said his administration had rejected Wynn’s request to take half of the existing Goodman’s Bay public parking lot and use it for valet parking for its properties. He added that the refusal was based on the fact that existing parking space was already inadequate, especially on public holidays and at weekends.

“They had submitted a proposal to us to utilise half of Goodman’s Bay parking facility for parking for the hotel; for valet parking,” Dr Minnis recalled. “We had refused it. You cannot deprive the public of having proper access to their facilities.

“I know the Wynn Group had requested half of that parking facility. The public parking, they wanted half of it. But during holidays and other events, there is insufficient parking in any event.” Traffic congestion and parking woes featured prominently during last Wednesday’s public hearing, which saw Mr Hart disclose that GoldWynn is eyeing “off-site parking” for staff to ease the problems.

“There’s been much talk about the traffic study,” he added. “An important point is this building is only 40 units, so it’s much, much lower density than the original GoldWynn. It will have a very, very marginal impact.

“Whereas the hotel may have a lot of people coming and going, this one will have much fewer units and we also have the egress to the side through the existing entrance so there’s no separate entrance with GoldWynn two which would, I think mitigate any impact.

“We did have extensive discussions with the Department of Physical Planning and Ministry of Works regarding a possible roundabout in front of the Prime Minister’s Office. We were certainly open to the possibility,” Mr Hart continued.

“However, there are some major logistical challenges and we found that the radius of that roundabout, in order for large trucks and equipment to continue down West Bay Street, would require part of the front of the Prime Minister’s Office and part of some of the adjoining property owners. There was no real easy practical fix.”

Mr Hart, though, said Wynn would take measures to prevent cars and food trucks from crossing and parking on the West Bay Street median at Goodman’s Bay when it executes its penthouse project after securing the necessary approvals.

“We don’t want a carnival atmosphere in the street in front of the median,” he added, “so with the second phase it’s our intent to find off-site parking for the staff and then we can really try and minimise any impact that will have in the short-term. That’s basically where things stand.”