(Oranjestad)âIt was in November 2019 when the minister of Tourism, Dangui Oduber, announced the âgroundbreakingâ Secrets Baby Beach Resort in Baby Beach, a project that included the construction of an all-inclusive hotel with 600 rooms, according to ROPV.
Last Saturday, a group of residents from Sero Colorado informed through a press release that by law, the Three Rivers project has a suspended constructions permit and because of this, there is no authorization for continuing to construct the âSecretsâ Hotel.
It has been indicated in the press release that the judge of the Administrative Court Lar, Mr. W.C.E. Winfield considered the petition made by the residents for Lar to order the government to suspend the construction permit not necessary, because in article 59 of the Building and Housing Ordinance, it states that the moment there is an appeal for this permit, construction must be put on hold until further notice.
As such, the fact that the government decided to allow this construction to continue, without attending to the objections of the residents nearby is against the law and therefore also create unnecessary financial risks for the community of Aruba as well as the developers.
A total of ten citizens, represented then by Maritza Boyce, turned up at Lar after the minister of Territorial Developments, Infrastructure and the Environment at that time turned in the permit for the construction of the hotel. This permit was granted on May 28th, 2020 and the citizens have submitted their objections to the permit on the 21st of October 2020.
However, the minister had rejected the objection on March 9th, 2021 and the citizens have subsequently filed an appeal against this on April 16th, 2021. They informed that the court has stated in its first sentence that as long as the minister in charge does not respond to the objection of the citizens, the construction must be put on hold.
The government has stated, based on the decree of March 9th 2021, that it does not consider the objection admissible, which resulted in the citizens to file an appeal at the Administrative Court on April 15th, 2021. The judge stated in his sentence that he does consider the residents to have a valid reason in two of their arguments and has instructed the government to make a decision on the objection within a three-week time span.
However, the government and Three Rivers have both appealed this sentence and the court has yet to give another on May 24th, 2023. Furthermore, the government has decided on may 5th 2022 that the objections considered as valid by Lar had no basis.
Through letters, the citizens have protested against this decision by the government and in doing so, has brought attention to the authorities that they must take the right steps so that this project does not contradict the law. This means that they must halt construction while the appeal of the citizens are being processed, particularly because not at any moment has the government actually entered in dialogue with the citizens.
Lastly, the citizens have signaled that they have once again appealed to the Court on April 19th, 2023.
The petition at Lar was to suspend the construction permit. Because this was not suspended based on article 59 of Building and Housing Ordinance, the court has considered the protested have complied with all requirements of the appeal.
The government and Three Rivers have also argued that there is no urgent interest with their appeal, seeing as they knew since May 2022 that the company, with the approval of the government, has continued with the construction, which at this point is already 45% complete.
They have denied that the plan does not comply with all its requirements and they reject the notion that according to article 59, the construction permit is suspended.
The residents have said that a part of the building does not match with nearby houses and overall ambience. The construction also affects the air and light quality for the residents and that it is against the ROPV law (Planning Territorial Ordinance), in which it is only allowed a maximum of 600 rooms and not 900.
At that time, Ms. Maritza Boyce has stated that the construction plans do not comply with the reasonable insistence of âsuccessâ, and that the building surpasses its maximum height, because there has been poor attention paid to the 4-meter space underground, which is at the level of the cliff.
Moreover, the residents have argued that the âconstruction planâ, based on its locations or system of construction, will be a huge hindrance to the environment. Furthermore, they have argued that after construction, considering its location and its forms or system of construction, will affect the view and privacy of the inhabitants of the area. The plans show that the building is too close to their plots and that the building is more than one story high. In other words, this will be a very big structure.
The most plausible argument was the fact that project goes against the ROPV law and the construction plan indicates a project of 600 all-inclusive rooms, plus an additional 300 standard rooms. This brings the total to 900 rooms, while ROPV states that the hotel is only permitted a maximum of 600 rooms at this specific location.
Finally, the judge concluded that article 59 means that the construction permit of Three Rivers is suspended. As such, they are not allowed to continue with the construction. The fact that this is already 45% complete is their argument that the inhabitants have no urgent reason to be against the plans.
The minister of Territorial Ordinance and Infrastructure was represented by the Minister of Judicial Affairs, and Three Rivers was represented by Mr. Reinkemeyer and Mr. Ruiz.
Before construction even began, the residents nearby have asked for more information on this project, but they have received transparency from the company or governmentâs end. In their opinion, the developer must be careful with the traffic that this hotel will bring in the area. The ROPV also states that during construction time, the developer must be mindful of the constant noises that can become a nuisance to the residents and visitors of Sero Colorado.
