Hanover Municipal Corporation gets title for Orchard Beach
But mayor says boundaries are still unclear, given ownership claim to section of property
Published:Monday | February 13, 2023 | 12:45 AMBryan Miller/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
THE HANOVER Municipal Corporation (HMC) is now in possession of the land title for the Orchard Beach property in Hopewell, Hanover, and has started the process to get the property surveyed, with a view to knowing the boundaries of the said property.
Mayor of Lucea and chairman of the HMC, Sheridan Samuels, announced at the HMC’s monthly meeting on Thursday that the corporation now has the title, which has been a contentious matter, as a private individual has been claiming rights to the said property in recent months. This as the Tourism Enhancement Fund (TEF) wants to develop the beach area among its plans to develop Orchard Beach as one of nine public beaches across the country over the coming months.
Following a public consultation meeting, which was held by the TEF in the Hopewell community in November 2022, to discuss the development of the beachfront property, locally known as ‘Old Steamer Beach’, several issues started to surface, including that of the ownership of the property.
To date there are several squatters on the beachfront property, and fisherfolk use a section for their daily business, while an individual is now claiming that she owns another section along the Old Steamer Beach.
CHANGED HANDS
The beach sections of the property forms part of the Orchard Property, which has changed hands a few times over the years, with recent documents showing the present owners as Guisette and Daniella Mafesanti.
The Gleaner was informed and has seen documents that show court proceedings have taken place in the past to secure some of the beach sections of the property for recreational purposes for residents of the Hopewell community.
Meanwhile, information garnered is that the Mafesanti business interests have decided to donate a section of the beachfront property to the Hopewell community, as was being discussed over the years.
In an interview with The Gleaner, Mayor Samuels, while expressing appreciation to the Mafesanti family for the donation, argued that the first line of business for the HMC is to get the property surveyed as per the title in hand, so as to determine its boundaries.
“We got the title two weeks ago, and at our planning meeting we decided that the next move is to do the survey so that we will know our boundaries,” he stated.
“There is a lady that claims that she has documents to show that she owns a part of the property, and as a result of that she said that she had actually done a survey on the property. I have not seen her documents any at all, so during the course of us doing our survey we will know where the boundaries are, and know whether or not her claim can stand,” Samuels explained.
He said that the HMC should contract a surveyor today (February 13), and within another week the facts will be known.
Samuels also stated that all unauthorised occupants of the property will be dealt with accordingly, as they will not be allowed to hamper the development process of the beach facilities.