<p>The Belize City Council is opposing the transfer of Parcel Number 3820 in the Caribbean Shores Area to one Giovanni Blease. Mayor of Belize City, Darrell Bradley, says that the Belize City Council has always maintained the entire section of the public reserve along Seashore Drive. In April 2013, the City Council was informed orally that parcel number 3820 would be issued to a private individual Giovanni Blease. The Council immediately lodged a caution on the property that same month. In November of last year, the Belize City Council received a letter from the Commissioner of Lands, Wilbert Vallejos, notifying that Blease is asking for a hearing to remove the caution on the land. This morning, Mayor Bradley further explained the situation to the media.</p>
<p><b><i>DARREL BRADLEY</i></b></p>
<p><b><i>“Our intention here and our purpose is to ensure that the public has adequate recreational and public spaces. This entire area of land, the entire coastal area along Seashore Drive has always been maintained by residents and by the City of Belize for public use; there are boulders along that area, there are park benches and trees, those have been planted over the course of time. The area of land that we have been speaking about has been an area that the City Council has been working with other organizations including the Scout Association of Belize to maintain and keep for public use. As you can see, there is a portion of it with a gazebo; weddings have taken place there, there are some land fillings that the City Council recently did in that parcel of land. We are not attacking anyone and we are not saying that anyone is to blame for this but we want that parcel to remain for public use. There are certain issues that we are raising here; the first is that the historically that has always been accessible for the public and the City had earmarked that to do a development when we did Seashore Drive; this is what I communicated to the Commissioner of Lands that when we upgrade Seashore Drive we wanted to upgrade that area because we noticed that there are some erosion taking place. We wanted to continue with the boulders and there is a sea wall on part of the area and we want it to remain for public use. The second concern that we have is that our technical person has advised that on that land there is a major outflow that goes out to the Caribbean Sea. If there is development there, more than likely, the person who would then owe that piece of land would build a structure there and if they block the drains it would likely cause a backflow and it would likely affect the flooding conditions in that area. You’ve seen that recently, we have had wide spread flooding throughout the City and one of the reasons we are having flooding is because we are giving out lands and building up areas which should be out flows. We have also indicated to the Commissioner of Lands that we want to work with them to get some sort of amicable solution to this. Our research has indicated an I provided to you a copy of our most recent land title register which we have obtained and dated September 2 which showed that that property is still in the name of the Government of Belize and the City council has always been maintaining that property as a public park.”</i></b></p>
<p>The hearing on the matter has been scheduled for January 29th 2014 to determine whether or not the caution should be removed and the parcel issue for private development.</p>
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<p><b><i>DARREL BRADLEY</i></b></p>
<p><b><i>“Our intention here and our purpose is to ensure that the public has adequate recreational and public spaces. This entire area of land, the entire coastal area along Seashore Drive has always been maintained by residents and by the City of Belize for public use; there are boulders along that area, there are park benches and trees, those have been planted over the course of time. The area of land that we have been speaking about has been an area that the City Council has been working with other organizations including the Scout Association of Belize to maintain and keep for public use. As you can see, there is a portion of it with a gazebo; weddings have taken place there, there are some land fillings that the City Council recently did in that parcel of land. We are not attacking anyone and we are not saying that anyone is to blame for this but we want that parcel to remain for public use. There are certain issues that we are raising here; the first is that the historically that has always been accessible for the public and the City had earmarked that to do a development when we did Seashore Drive; this is what I communicated to the Commissioner of Lands that when we upgrade Seashore Drive we wanted to upgrade that area because we noticed that there are some erosion taking place. We wanted to continue with the boulders and there is a sea wall on part of the area and we want it to remain for public use. The second concern that we have is that our technical person has advised that on that land there is a major outflow that goes out to the Caribbean Sea. If there is development there, more than likely, the person who would then owe that piece of land would build a structure there and if they block the drains it would likely cause a backflow and it would likely affect the flooding conditions in that area. You’ve seen that recently, we have had wide spread flooding throughout the City and one of the reasons we are having flooding is because we are giving out lands and building up areas which should be out flows. We have also indicated to the Commissioner of Lands that we want to work with them to get some sort of amicable solution to this. Our research has indicated an I provided to you a copy of our most recent land title register which we have obtained and dated September 2 which showed that that property is still in the name of the Government of Belize and the City council has always been maintaining that property as a public park.”</i></b></p>
<p>The hearing on the matter has been scheduled for January 29th 2014 to determine whether or not the caution should be removed and the parcel issue for private development.</p>
View the full article