Politicians only care about $$$ - Josiah’s Bay resident
There were no mincing of words and smooth plastering of the issues relating to the lands and properties owned by residents of Josiah’s Bay as they straight talked about their concerns when they met with Chief Planning Officer of the Town and Country Department of the Government of the Virgin Islands, Mr Gregory W. Adams.
“Look around, not a single one of them, not a politician is here tonight, they don’t care, they don’t care about us, people we must not be silent and let them do as they please with our lands,” the woman further said.
No plan
Mr Adams and team were faced with a number of issues and concerns of land. Property owners of Josiah’s Bay stressed on the fact that there is and has never been a development plan for the area, a situation that is common throughout the territory.
“My family paid a surveyor to sub-divide the land and we were waiting for months, over a year, and we didn’t hear anything and then we found out that the surveyor couldn’t do anything…. I want to know how long would we be held up in a position like that and what we are supposed to do with the plans that we had because we were looking forward to getting the land sub-divided so that we can go on with our plans,” said one concerned heir of lands in the area.
There were concerns about the state of drainage and irrigation, roads and matters of flooding as one resident and land owner noted that the area is prone to flooding.
Objections to animal shelter
The erection of structures for businesses was a matter of serious concern as residents objected to the touted establishment of an animal shelter in the community. According to one woman, because of the geographic of the area such a facility would not be suited as concerns about the disposal of animal waste were very worrying.
Addressing that issue, Mr Adams noted that his department received a proposal recently for the erection of an animal shelter in the area. He assured residents that with proposals of such nature the department cannot give a go-ahead or approval before consulting with the residents of the area.
‘Keep Josiah’s Bay the way it is’
On learning there is no development plan for the area at this time, one resident Mr Collinson George said, “For now Josiah’s Bay is a residential area, so we will keep it that way,” a statement that attracted applause from the many in attendance.
Speaking with this news site following the interactions with the land owners of Josiah’s Bay, Mr Adams said he was very pleased with the large turnout of residents to the meeting and explained that himself and team were not there with any drafted plan for the area but rather they came to gather suggestions from residents in order to develop a plan.
He assured the people that in approximately six (6) weeks he would be returning for another meeting but this time with drafts of possible developmental plans for scrutiny, approval or objection. “We want to develop a proposal/development plan for Josiah’s Bay and we figured we start with the property owners to get an idea of what issues are affecting them so that we can capture those in any plans that we develop.”
He said currently the department is seeing a number of development pressures in the way of sub-divisions. “There have historically been issues regarding drainage and it’s just like what we figured. It’s a good time to really deal with some of those issues before the development pressures become too great.
“So we are prepared to address those from a technical stand-point and then come back to the community and make sure that we capture them in a sensible way that reflects their thoughts as well,” Mr Adams told Virgin Islands News Online.
Follow Us On
13 Responses to “Politicians only care about $$$ - Josiah’s Bay resident”
A development has already started on the beach, or at least a big hole for foundations is present - is this the supposed development or is there another one.
Perhaps while town and country are at it they could investigate along with the police why there is a dog/chicken pit for fighting that draws a regular crowd - that's a bigger concern.
The pressure in building is also pressure to take visitors somewhere. Why can't some places be protected or at least have some regulations for the greater good instead of benefit of a few? But it is a good idea to take into consideration engineering and drainage and common septic etc. That doesn't mean promotion of big development, just coordinated efforts. Where is the National Park Trust and any preservation society to watchdog?
One man decide to build a car spray business on he land and the woman next door decide to build a nice quiet guest house on her land next door. According to your stupidness they should both have rights to do it!
One man decide to build a wall across a natural water drainage. His wall stops the water flow, everybody gets flooded! There is a million reasons why we BVIslanders should not put the fate of Josiah's Bay in the hands of people who think they can do what they want!
Plus, some people getting work up about the animal shelter for no reason. As one blogger said already - Josiah's Bay is FULL of animal livestock already. Its traditional land use is agricultural more than residential!
If a new animal shelter has a good system for cleaning run-off/sewage build-up, and doesn't cause trouble to nearest houses, why would you object to it? Or would you prefer they build it next to the dog fight pit, down by the ghut FULL of trash, dead animals and HUMAN EXCREMENT ALL the TIME?
Leave the people to do what they want? That's a pile of sh*t.