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A section of the large crowd at the Hyatt Ziva meeting on Tuesday night.

Large crowd attends Hyatt Ziva meeting

SCORES of Barbadians made their way to the Copacabana Beach Bar on Tuesday night to see and hear proposed plans for the US$175 million Hyatt Ziva all-inclusive resort earmarked for Bay Street in the City of Bridgetown, which is expected to generate up to 1 500 jobs.

While many came prepared with a list of questions for the development team about the 18-storey project, it was explained that all their questions will be answered in approximately two weeks, when the studies undertaken will be available to the public.

Director of Vision Developers Inc., Mark Maloney, urged the audience not to take offence that the team would not be able to answer all questions posed. “It is not because we want to and we are avoiding, but some of them we may not have the exact answers now and we would better off be giving you accurate answers at the right time.”

He noted that meeting was not intended to be a Town Hall, but a public presentation to share with the public architectural designs and concepts and to get feedback.

“We will have a website up within the next week or two, we will be able to share all the information. The project does not have planning permission. We are in that process now and we sought to engage with the public to be able to share and get feedback, so that anything requires a change not just from our end, but we are sure that Planning is here and the regulatory agency that they can take into account.”

He told the audience that an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) has been carried out as requested by the Town Planning Department. “We can assure you that all of the consultants that have been engaged on each aspect on the EIA are credible, professional and have the experience to be able to do so.

“All of the studies have been submitted. They are not public yet because we have not gotten to the stage that we are required to do the Town Hall meeting. We do understand the process for the Town Hall meeting where there is a 28-day requirement and all the ads in the paper and all the studies have to be made public and that time will come.

“So please I just wanted to clear the air ... to make sure that it is isn’t a perception that we have not shared any of the studies because they are now with Town Planning and they will be shared with all of the agencies through Town Planning and then we will go through that process,” he said.

While there was a large crowd at the public meeting, noticeably absent were residents from Bay Street and surrounding areas. However, Planning consultant Yvette Humphrey gave the assurance that invitations were disseminated door by door to persons in the neighbouring communities. (JH)

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