Allegations surrounding the removal of fill material from a National Housing Development Trust project site in North Side, and its delivery to a parcel of land connected to an NHDT executive using agency resources, are now being investigated, the Governor’s Office has confirmed.
On Monday, 14 March, the Governor’s Office, in an emailed response to the Compass, said the allegations relating to the removal and use of the government agency resources “are being treated seriously and are currently being fully investigated”.
The Compass also reached out to the NHDT for comment on the matter; officials have declined to respond, saying there is an ongoing investigation.
The approximately half-acre of land, located on Ottos Avenue, North Side, was recently cleared. It has since been backfilled, allegedly using the material sourced from the NHDT site on the dime of the housing agency.
It is also alleged that fill was moved to farmland owned by relatives of the NHDT executive.
Additionally, it is alleged the material was trucked to the site through a contract issued to a company with close ties to a member of government, the Compass has been informed.
The Cayman Compass is not naming individuals connected to this matter because the investigation is ongoing.
Plan for the fill
Just last month the NHDT had announced that it had partnered with Beacon Farms to process ‘green waste’ or fill from the affordable housing development site next to the Craddock Ebanks Civic Centre on North Side Road as compost for farmers, home owners and members of the public.
The project started in January, a media release stated, when several loads of green waste from NHDT’s North Side housing development site was trucked to Beacon Farms, the non-profit organisation located off Frank Sound Road.
NHDT chairman Julio Ramos, in that statement, said the plan was for existing and future NHDT homeowners to have access to good quality soil for their backyard gardens from the waste generated from the housing development sites.
“The Trust is looking forward to other opportunities where both entities can partner on other initiatives that will be beneficial to our communities,” he said.
This week Premier Wayne Panton also visited Beacon Farms to see how the green waste was being put to use.
In a Facebook post on the visit, he said he was “frankly amazed at the work that is going on there… The Bridge Foundation is transforming the landscape, using a chipper to turn a nuisance into an asset. They are turning green waste in to organic humus, which fertilizes the soil naturally without destroying its life-structure.”
Through the earlier NHDT statement, Housing Minister Jay Ebanks expressed his support for the programme, noting that it would be a win-win for NHDT and members of the farming community.
“We are very conscious of the environment and left as many trees as possible for buffer at the North Side housing site while using the green waste for composting to benefit as many people as possible, especially our farmers,” he said.
However, that fill earmarked as part of this project did not make it to Beacon Farms and was instead allegedly deposited off-site on Ottos Avenue.
In addition, there is an environmental concern as the land has been cleared and allegedly prepped with the NHDT material in the absence of necessary checks, breaching the law.
The Compass, following checks at the Lands and Survey Department, was able to confirm that the land in question does not have any applications nor Planning Department approvals to clear the wetland vegetation.
The Department of Environment, when contacted by the Compass on the clearing, said it “was not aware of this particular clearing and will take a look into the matter”.
The clearing is a cause of concern for Martin Keeley, head of the Mangrove Rangers, who said after-the-fact applications continue to find their way to Planning for retroactive approvals.
“Our big concern with the Planning Law is that it needs to be changed… Number one, illegal clearing which has been done without a permit without any kind of approval has to stop… And the landowners simply get a slap on the wrist from the (Central Planning Authority) and maybe a minuscule fine,” Keeley told the Compass.
“There has to be a tangible accountability here,” he said, adding if people are doing this illegally, just as with speeding there needs to be a fine commensurate with how much they’ve cleared.
“The fines have to be a real deterrent. If there isn’t a deterrent, then people will go on doing it because they can get away with it… [P]eople have got to understand the ecological value and the economic value of maintaining the mangrove ecosystems… [T]here seems to be very little of that in mind when they go ahead and clear the lots quite illegally,” he said.
According to the post-Cabinet summary for 1 March, a committee chaired by attorney Steve McField was appointed to review the Development and Planning Act.
The terms of reference of that committee have not been released. The Compass has requested further details on the review and its objectives, and is awaiting a response.
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