Environmental Threats
and Challenges

The Belize Department of the Environment approved  The Peninsula Club and Crimson Park as one project in an Environmental Compliance Plan (ECP) dated 27 September 2007.  Crimson Park (not named at the time the ECP was signed) was approved for 161 lots.  Dennis Johnson, as General Manager of the Peninsula Club of Belize, signed the ECP.  The ECP was amended on 8 August in an amendment signed by Dennis Johnson as General Manager of Reagan International.  (The Amendment mainly concerned location and use of canals.)

Lots within what later came to be called the Crimson Park subdivision were to be sold at a discounted rate to Belizeans only.

In addition to dredging and filling residential lots, the ECP obligates the developer to construct roads and a canal network, install an aerobic bio-digester sewage plant with a wetland area, and develop tow open spaces, parks, playgrounds and a football field.

As related in the Peninsula Club page, both The Peninsula Club and the Crimson Park subdivision created a great deal of controversy on the Peninsula.  Those in favor of Crimson Park believed that the selling price of BZ$35,000 - BZ$50,000 for completely filled lots, including sewage, roads, electricity and water, was a good deal for Belizeans.  Those opposed to Crimson Park believed the selling price was too high and that most people would not be able to afford a lot.

In addition, DOE did not require an EIA for the project, even though an EIA was mandatory under Belize's environmental regulations.  (See The Peninsula Club page for more information.)

Work began immediately after approval on the private, Peninsula Club section of the development.  However, the same did not happen on the Crimson Park portion of the development, and, as noted on the Peninsula Club page, development of Crimson Park soon ran afoul of a mangrove moratorium enacted on 15 February 2008.  DOE issued a stop work order for the Crimson Park development on 25 June 2009.  (The Peninsula Club had destroyed all the mangroves on its property long before the moratorium went into effect.)

Work on Crimson Park never re-started under Dennis Johnson, and he eventually left Belize with the Crimson Park development in limbo.

Melvin Hulse, Area Representative for Stann Creek West, then stepped in and came up with a "social program" in which Karim Berges, principal of Crimson Development and former UDP fundraiser, would develop 191 lots instead of the previously approved 161 lots, eliminating the park and much of the greenspace, in clear violation of the ECP, which was transferred to Crimson Development by DOE explicitly subject to the same terms and conditions as the ECP signed by Dennis Johnson.

Under the direction of Minister Hulse, the local Placencia Village lots committee then selected 191 Placencia residents who had never owned land in the Village to be eligible to purchase a specific lot for BZ$38,000.  Lots were divided into three groups, with construction to start on the first group closest to the Placencia airstrip.  The price of a lot multiplied by 191 lots was said to be the cost of dredging and filling the lots (BZ$7,258,000).

Village residents selected to receive a lot were instructed to pay all or a portion of the purchase price into one of the accounts of Crimson Development at local banks (Atlantic, Scotia and Belize Banks).  Purchasers receive no contract, just a receipt when money is deposited, which they then take the Village Council to be recorded.

The filling of the first group of lots in the Placencia Lagoon by Crimson Development began in August 2009. The site supervisor claimed that the first stage of the development would be completed by November 2009.

As of 15 April 2010, Crimson Development has completed less than half of the first stage of the Lagoon dredging and filling.

Work stopped in December 2009 because of the holidays, and has not restarted.  Some heavy machinery was also hauled off the site in January 2010, including a bulldozer, a backhoe, a truck and a large generator.

When queried about construction standstill at a Placencia Village Council meeting on 6 February 2010, Minister Hulse stated publicly that “The developer has cash flow problems.”

Limited construction re-started in late February 2010 with two employees.

One wooden house has been erected on the site, although the developer has no water or electricity infrastructure in place. The lot was resold to a British citizen by the Placencia resident to whom ikt was allocated.

Meanwhile, other Placencia residents with an option to buy a lot are still being urged to deposit the full purchase price of their lots directly into the Crimson Development bank accounts at Scotia Bank, Atlantic Bank or Belize Bank.

According to Karim Berges of Crimson Development, Crimson Development does not have a contract with the government to construct the lots.  Further, information from the Registrar of Lands indicates that the Government of Belize does not own the property.  However, the Government did convey the first lot to the first purchaser (who promptly resold it to a British woman who is not a Belize citizen). 

If Crimson doesn't have a contract with the Government, and the Government doesn't own the property, then legally what is going on with this development?  More importantly, what happens to the purchase price paid into Crimson Developments accounts if the development is never completed?  Can Crimson simply tell depositors, "Sorry, we're out of money and can't go any further"?  What if a purchaser wants the money deposited into Crimson's account back  - say for a medical emergency?  Are purchasers entitled to a refund? 

And, what happens to the land if the development is never finished?

See Roots and Reef for updates on the Crimson Park development.