Developer says Bob Marley Beach access not at risk

Donovan Reid, a director in The Woof Group, the company developing a US$200-million luxury resort in St Thomas, is hitting back at critics of the project who, he said, have bandied about “a significant amount of false information”.

Reid, in a Gleaner interview on Thursday, said the claims promulgated by advocacy group, the Jamaica Beach Birthright Environmental Movement (JaBBEM), led by Devon Taylor and attorney-at-law Dr Marcus Goffe, are “baseless and without merit”.

“We’ve not forced or had any eviction orders or any threats,” he said of the contentious matter first reported two weeks ago.

“This is a tremendous opportunity. There is no other development that is coming to the island right now that will have this impact and is at this level that will transform the tourism sector on the island – bringing the tourism sector into that ultra-luxury branded category that is missing on the island,” he added.

Residents of Bull Bay have registered strong opposition to the development, which is adjacent to their Beach Road community, with two families insisting that they have built their livelihoods on the state-owned Bob Marley Beach, which reportedly forms part of the scope of the project.

They have said that they are facing the threat of eviction.

They occupy approximately 0.12 acres of the 200-acre property bought by the company in 2019. Public access to the beach is protected up to the high-water mark – the maximum rise of the tide over land.

Goffe, who is supporting the families who reside on the lands, has filed an injunction to block the demolition of one of the structures on the beach.

But Reid has said that the residents are being “manipulated” by the advocate for reasons unknown.

Reid said that there was no attempt to bribe the families to leave the lands and that there is no plan to prevent Jamaicans from accessing the beach.

“That is all patently false,” he said, noting that for the last two years his company has been in direct dialogue with the Government about plans for the area.

He said that an access point has been maintained to the beach on a 2020 master plan submitted to the Government for the development that is expected to be completed in two years.

Reid said that the company has also offered to provide support for one family, including assistance with relocation. Those overtures have reportedly not been accepted.

“We offered this family three acres of land elsewhere in 2021. They reviewed and refused it, and we have no obligation to do that, just out of mere sensitivity. We then instructed our attorneys to offer a second location of three acres and it was refused,” said Reid.

“This is not about access to the beach. That is a very small point. The larger point is that that community is filled with crime, murders, and if you take a look at what we suggested to the Government, it’s a significant upgrade of that community.”

He described the company’s approach to the community as “sensitive”, noting that plans are in place for vendors and fisherfolk.

“Folks will have access to swim in a section of the beach. Fishermen will have their livelihood. There will be a school [and] refurbished housing. All of that was submitted to the Government,” he said.

“This is the first ultra-luxury brand development of its kind on the island and, importantly, the first in the English-speaking Caribbean. Jamaica should be privileged and is privileged to be chosen as the destination for this development,” Reid said.

He said the development will give significant credibility to the southern coast of the parish and attract other ultra-luxury brands with the multibillion-dollar Southern Coastal Highway Improvement Project opening up St Thomas to investments.

“We are vanguards. Instead of playing it safe and going to Montego Bay, we are taking this development and leading in an area of the island that has been left behind for 50 years,” said Reid.

Goffe told The Gleaner Thursday that he stands to gain nothing by helping the residents.

“Devon is there doing voluntary work as JaBBEM and I am a Rastafari attorney who has been called in to help defenceless persons. So we have no agenda other than to save the people and their livelihood and the Rastafarian heritage there and to the public beach access.

‘There’s no benefit there. There’s no ulterior motive or investment for income there for us,” Goffe said.

Prime Minister Andrew Holness castigated critics on Wednesday as being mischief makers who are inimical to the progress of the eastern parish.

“How is the parish going to be developed without bringing in industry and commerce and housing? This politics of poverty is so dangerous, [they] use poor people to stop their own development. Can you imagine that?” Holness asked.