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2006 Placencia News
Archives |
Definitely not all the news that's fit to
print - and definitely not on a daily basis. But, we'll try to update
frequently about things like road conditions and significant events
affecting the area - sometimes even gossip - maybe. Let us know if you
have anything to add. But, we retain full editorial discretion over
information on this page.
15 April 2006
Proposed Ara Macao (f/k/a Scarlet Macaw)
Development: iovest Development LLC of Chicago, Illinois is
proposing a gated development that will include:
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Accommodations for just under 13,000 people
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67 acre
marina accommodating up to 400 boats of up to 100 feet in length and
involving dreding on the Caribbean side of 1.2 million cubic yards of fill
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Two 9-hole
golf courses (abutting the Lagoon on the south)
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296 villas
(in 2-story buildings)
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458 condos
(in 4-story buildings)
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260 room
hotel
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59 single
family houses
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106,250
square foot casino and night club
A public
consultation has been required by the Department of the Environment and will
be held on Wednesday, 3 May 2006, at 6:30 PM at the school in Seine Bight
Village.
Informational
meetings about the development are scheduled for Friday, 21 April 2006 at 7
PM at the Placencia Village Community Center, and Saturday, 22 April 2006 at
4:30 PM at the Seine Bight School.
For more
information:
17 March 2006
Restaurants: Francais en Placencia? C'est
vrai! Placencia Village now has a French restaurant, The French Connection,
located in what was formerly Daisy's Restaurant near Ranguana Lodge.
Opening night is Saturday, 18 March 2006, 6 PM. Dinners only.
16 March 2006
George Cabral: George Cabral died last night
(Wednesday, 15 March 2006) at about 7 PM. The funeral is scheduled for
Sunday, 19 March 2006, at St. John's Church in Placencia Village, and the
wake is Saturday night (location not yet known). George is survived by his
wife, Hortense Vernon Cabral, ten sons (Graham, Daniel, Wayne, Wyatt,
Breeze, Julian, George, Sandy, Andy and Egbert), 4 daughters (Rita, Pearl,
Larraine and Jean) and numerous grandsons, granddaughters, cousins, aunts
and uncles.
A New
Westby: Tara Kamelia Westby ("Kammie") gave birth to a baby boy
Tuesday morning about 10 AM. No name yet, although Kammie says she's
partial to Miles.
US Opposes
World Heritage Sites Action on Climate Change. In
an advance position
paper issued by the United States, the US argues that
UNESCO has "no brief to consider anthropogenic climate change as a
"threat" to protected sites because it is an unproven theory."
The World Heritage Sites that environmental groups believe are being
threatened by climate change include the Belize Barrier Reef, The Great
Barrier Reef, HuascarᮠNational Park in Peru,
Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park on the US/Canada border
and Sagarmatha National Park in the Himalayas.
For more information, see
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4810826.stm.
16 February 2006
Correction:
TMM did close its Placencia base for awhile, but reconsidered (due
to popular demand?) and now has a new resident manager. So, bareboat
charters are again available from Placencia through TMM.
Maya Beach:
A storm is brewing in Maya Beach -- a dust storm, to be precise. The ruckus
is over trucking of landfill being excavated from the
Coco Plum development north to the Zeboz development. Maya Beach
residents report massive amounts of dust being created by speeding dump
trucks traveling between the two developments -- dust of apparently
sufficient quantity to require the wearing of dust masks by Maya Beach
residents . Local residents report what they term a "cursory" run with a
water truck on Wednesday morning and evening between Maya Playa and Green
Parrot. However, area residents want the road watered with a larger truck
for the entire distance between Coco Plum and Zeboz. A public meeting about
the problem is scheduled for Saturday, 18 February 2006 at 6:30 PM at the
Plantation Chapel. Residents also say they have a video-tape of the
speeding trucks and resulting dust ready to send to Channel 7 News this
morning.
 11
February 2006:
Third Annual Placencia Sidewalk Art Festival.
A beautiful day, interesting art, good music, a retinue
of friends, family, ex-pats and tourists ate and gazed their way through one
of our favorite annual Placencia events.
Pictures of 2006 Sidewalk Art Festival.
Further
Developments:
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Proposed
Scarlet Macaw Development. This
mega-development, north of the Zeboz Development area (now The Placencia
Hotel) and south of Riversdale, is currently developing an Environmental
Impact Assessment as required by Belize environmental and development
laws. According to the site plan for the proposed development which can be
downloaded from the
Scarlet Macaw Website (recently renamed the Ara Macao Resort and
Marina), the developers are proposing:
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Two 9-hole golf courses
(that meet, interestingly enough, does 9 + 9 still equal 18?)
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Gated entry (but, of course)
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Casino/restaurant/nightclubs
facility
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Ampitheater "themed space"
(whatever that means)
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Ferry (to where?)
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Retail space
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Hotel
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Restaurant
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2 condo developments (looks
like about 80+ condo buildings - not units, but buildings)
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Golf course residences (40+)
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Villas (appears to be 65+
Caribbean "access" villas)
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300+ slip marina (where are
all those boats going to go?)
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Boat launch
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Manufactured snorkeling reefs
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"Pool feature" (????)
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Macaw Preserve (since when do
Scarlet Macaws hang out at the beach?)
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Littoral forest (in case
you're wondering - littoral means "pertaining to the seashore")
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Employee housing
Where's the parking lot? (If
you're gonna pave over paradise, you have to have a parking lot, don't
you?)
A "public" meeting was
purportedly held by the developers to get public input before starting the
environmental impact assessment. Turns out the "public" means real estate
agents to the developers because no one else seemed to know about the
meeting until late afternoon on the day it was held when someone caught
wind of it and alerted the Placencia Village community. A call to the
Belize Department of the Environment about the lack of notice to Placencia
elicited the comment from a Mr. Franco, that only "directly impacted"
communities were notified. Last we knew, s*^t still rolls downhill and
Placencia Village is at the bottom of the hill.
A member of the Maya Beach
community present at the meeting says that the engineer for the project
admitted that the design of the development on the beach side would erode
beaches south of the development. The proposed solution to the problem
was to physically move sand from the north side of the development to the
south side so that sand can be carried to beaches south of the
development. Huh?
According to Martin Allegria,
Director of the Belize Department of the Environment, the Terms of
Reference for the proposed development's EIA were completed the week of 11
January 2006.
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Peninsula-Wide Sanitary and Storm Water Sewage System: The
Sacramento Chapter of Engineers without Borders is working with Placencia
communities to develop a plan for a Peninsula-wide sewage system.
Engineers without Borders held a public community consultation about the
proposed system on 18 January 2006 at the Placencia Community Center.
Present were Placencia Village Council members, national government
representatives Cadet Henderson, Chief Engineer, Department of Public
Works, Martin Lino, Public Heath Officer for Stann Creek District,
Department of Health, Anthony Andrews, Department of Housing and Planning,
Albert Roches, Environmental Officer, Department of the Environment,
Lillian Zyden, National Development, Engineers without Borders
representatives, Ernie Leporini, PE, Project Manager, Water Resources,
Sacramento Valley Professional Chapter, Priya Patel, Engineer, Water
Resources, Sacramento Valley Professional Chapter and Mike Thalhamer,
Engineer, Water Resources, Sacramento Valley Professional Chapter.
18 January 2006 Public Community Consultation Summary.
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Road.
No one is sure why, but an EIA for the project to upgrade the
Placencia Road has been filed with the Placencia Tourist Center. Last we
heard the government had no money to do anything, much less fix the road.
Who knows?
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Coco Plum Development. Dredging operations have commenced at the Coco
Plum Development.
New Taxes:
The current 9% sales tax will be replaced by a GST (goods and
services tax - or as it's called by the Government of Belize, a "general
sales tax") - whatever the name, it's a VAT system. Hotels are currently
"exempt" which means they will continue to charge a hotel tax, but won't be
able to offset sales tax paid for goods and services purchased to run the
hotel. The tourism industry is lobbying hard for zero status instead, which
means they won't have to charge GST on hotel rooms, but can deduct GST paid
for supplies such as food, legal fees, etc.
One of the biggest issues may be
the amount of the new GST, which is scheduled to be implemented in July
2006. The national government originally announced a 9% GST, then increased
it to 10%. However, according to the Sunday, 12 February 2006 edition of
The Reporter newspaper, Belize's public debt service for 2006 comes to
BZ$250,000,000. The government collects about BZ$280,000,000 a year in
revenue, leaving a scant BZ$30,000 on which to run the entire country.
Possibly a return to the 15% VAT
in place before the current PUP administration came to power in the 2000
elections?
Food, Lodging and
Entertainment:
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Laru Beya Beach Resort opened toward the end of 2005. Located
adjacent to Robert's Grove (to the south), Laru Beya offers beachfront and
gardenview rooms, and 1-3 bedroom suites.
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Steppingstones Guesthouse is a new 2-suite guesthouse on the beach
just outside Monkey River Village. Beautiful location. Good fishing.
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TMM.
TMM no longer offers bareboat charters originating in Placencia.
Catamarans still maybe chartered in San Pedro and dropped off in
Placencia.
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Sugar
Reef re-opened its restaurant. Now under Chef Brandi's influence,
dinners are excellent, and some very innovative dishes for the Placencia
area are offered.
The Sugar Reef Cabanas are also finished and available for rental.
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Gardenbrew Restaurant has begun serving Thai dishes such as coconut
shrimp and Thai curries in the evening.
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Chabil Mar Villa Resort is undergoing management changes after its
first owners meeting. Ray Tarpley is the new President of the homeowners'
association.
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Beach
Bazaar Gift Shop has opened a second location next to Purple Space
Monkey Restaurant specializing in Central American pottery.
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Purple
Space Monkey Restaurant is now under the able management of Marilyn
Beckstead, founder of The Iris Foundation for Education in Southern
Belize.
Civic
Organizations. The Rotary Club now has an active Placencia chapter.
Fatal Accidents:
Unfortunately, 2005 brought too many sea-related accidents and deaths, in
addition to the
Atherly deaths at last year's Placencia Lobsterfest.
Abigrail Brinkman, a young medical student was
killed in a diving accident, and a group of Belizean fishermen from
Sarteneja were lost at sea, their bodies never recovered.
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