AmbergrisCaye.com Home Forums The Cayes Environment New Subdivision raises many concerns

thanks for the clarification, all. my erroneous figures aside - i still have the other questions regarding trash, schools, jobs, who can afford to buy there...

a very similar project sprang up here as well a couple years ago. the lots were supposed to be 'affordable' for 'locals'.
last i heard there was a big dust-up because the developer saw potential and had raised the price per lot, out of reach for the avarege 'local' peninsulan.
but, the whole thing was shady from the start,, hey! just like yours!

"And if the name of the developer David Mitchell sounds familiar, that is because it should. According to our archives, on July 11th of last year David Mitchell, through his Costa del Sol Development Company, donated half a million dollars to the San Pedro Town Council for beautification of streets. That date was again July of 2008 - the same month when the Town Council submitted the environmental compliance plan for David Mitchell's project. David Mitchell is currently out of the country."

Street beautification = some politicians walking the streets with beautified bank accounts.

I seem to recall that the $500K wasn't a donation. It was a form of bridge loan to the town that is supposed to be repaid with the revenue for the lots sales at the Colonia De San Diego subdivision project.

Where is/was the Colonia de San Diego subdivision?

I reread earlier articles about the 2008 donation to the Town by Mr. Mitchell and his partner. The amount given was 350,000. with 150,000 to be paid at some future date. Was that ever received? The money was for "utilities".

It is interesting that on the sat photos it shows the sewer pond over to the south but in reality they will have a common border and at the very most a 100 feet or so between the two. You can see that the one pond has water in it and the other two are dry and actually closer to the subdivision.

I wonder if the town will be selling the lots will they receive a commission?

The government is selling the land for sure and it is a Gringo buying. We have allowed the lagoon behind Reef Village and Holy Cross to become disgustingly contaminated . But now we are going to allow direct contamination from the sewer beds.David Mitchell also is involved in the Brahmin Blue development taking absolutely pristine land and starting a huge project. He also bought cayes in the back and started developing them when a couple of guys saw it and realized what had happened and hence ACCSD began. So find out who he has bought off, who his "good friends" are and expose them. I believe that it will become fairly obvious by going back over the press archives. There are many pictures of the guy shaking hands with his "good friends" I really hope Belmopan is watching

http://www.governmentofbelize.gov.bz/press_release_details.php?pr_id=5052

"Prime Minister Hon. Dean Barrow and Hon. Manuel Heredia receive $350,000 Donation for Infrastructural Improvement in San Pedro Town

Belmopan - 11 July, 2008
Prime Minister Hon. Dean Barrow along with Minister of Tourism Hon. Manuel Heredia and Mayor of San Pedro Town, Elsa Paz this morning received a 350 thousand dollar check from developers in the island of Ambergris Caye.

The presentation took place at Robert's Grove in Placencia. Handing over the check on behalf of Costa Del Sol Development in Ambergris Caye were David Mitchell and Bob Dhillon who is also the Honorary Counsel of Belize in Canada.

Hon. Manuel Heredia said the money will be used to upgrade the infrastructure in San Pedro Town, paving more streets in the town as well as recruiting more personnel to keep the town clean.

Mr. Dhillon said that as large developers, they have a responsibility to give back to the community they operate in."

"San Pedro Gets $350,000 from Costa Del Sol Developers"

(excerpt - full story on above link)

Alfonso Noble,
Some people might look and say a million dollars from a development group, it seems kind of like a bribe maybe.
Hon. Manuel Heredia Jr.,
"No, because this people have been doing big developments on the other side of San Pedro to the extent that right now they are putting electricity from one side to the other and just the electrification cable is costing more than a million dollars to put that one so these are serious developers and they bring also other developments along with them so in order to show their appreciation that not only are they making money but they are returning some of this money also. And again, we have to be very clear, we, myself and the Mayor, we have always believed in development, genuine development."
The remaining $150,000 will be handed over later.

same story by the sun :

http://www.belizeone.com/sanpedrosun/old/08-282.html

---------------------------------------------------------------
now, this one (link below) states that the people of san mateo can rejoice - as part of that donation is to pave streets in san mateo, which was to start last october. anyone seen san mateo since october?

oh, this is interesting too:

http://ambergristoday.blogspot.com/2009_03_01_archive.html (second to BOTTOM story)

Mayor Paz in Hot Seat Again!

Last year Mayor Elsa Paz and the San Pedro Town Council held a general meeting for an End-of-Term Report on Wednesday, December 3, 2008, at the Lions Den. Mayor Paz and her Council came under close scrutiny by the Auditor General's office for financial irregularities under her stewardship. The report covered the period 2001 to 2006, under both a blue and a red Council and it brought into question several areas where monies either paid out or collected were not clearly accounted for. Some of the irregularities unearthed deal with tax revenues, sale of the Council's golf carts, missing vouchers and receipts, the purchase of office supplies, the sale of a ferry at Boca del Rio Park, advances made to employees, and the co-signing of loans for a former employee.

At this meeting in December 2008, the Audit report was not presented and Mayor Paz also failed to present a financial report to explain much of the irregularities. She said that her Council had nothing to hide and could answer any question that the public needed to know about the audit, which could be seen at the Town Council upon request.

And just yesterday, Monday, March 2, 2009, Mayor Paz held another meeting to address the audit report and questions where again information was sketchy and attendance was poor as the meeting was not thoroughly advertised.

Mayor Paz read minutes of the financial report and tackled questions pertaining to subsistence allowance to Hon. Manuel Heredia, the sale of a Town Council golf cart, accountability of half million dollar donation by David Mitchell and the sale of 598 acres of land in North Ambergris Caye.

Mayor Paz continues to inform the general public that the Audit Report is a live document and as such is available for viewing at the office of the San Pedro Town Council. The Council has not been audited since 2006.

Posted by Ambergris Today

It's about time that all major construction or developments should not be approved behind closed doors. This community is small, and any major changes affect us all.

There should be public meetings that allow the general public to be informed and have an opportunity to voice there concerns BEFORE any permits or approval is given.

I would like to add that not all the Town Council are in favor of this project. It seems, we have an elite group in the town council that think this island is their's to do with as they please.