Last night, the missing Environmental Compliance Plan for the proposed construction on North Drown Caye popped up on the Department of Environment's website. It's dated August 2019 and it includes the causeway from the island to Belize City. It's proposed to be 11 feet above the mean sea level and will run for approximately 2.24 miles to the city and 3 miles to Stake Bank. However, there will be a 60-foot portion that needs to be 40 feet above water for the passage of vessels. The causeway will land at Memorial Park.
Still the ECP says that the final designs and layout for the Ocean Grand View Development will be dependent on the results of the geotechnical assessment it said to be conducted 6 months after signing the ECP. we are told it is unusual that the ECP is granted BEFORE the study is done.
The ECP goes on to speak about vegetation and marine life in the area and sets strict guidelines for the structures that will be built. There are also measures that the developer, in this case Michael Feinstein, must agree to including identifying native coastal trees and plants that will be planted along the coast and scheduling land clearing and earth movement activities during the dry season to prevent further erosion.
This ECP comes after months of it being "missing," despite the chief environmental officer insisting that it exists.
In a letter dated October 23rd to attorney David Morales, the Ministry of Sustainable Development admits that the Stake Bank Cruise Docking Facility files were misplaced, but says nothing about the ECP for North Drown Caye. Still, the ministry instructed the DOE to find and produce the missing files. They also condemned the breakdown in transparency and accountability.
It's to be noted that both administration say they did not give the greenlight for the ECP for the causeway to be approved.
