SIMPSON BAY--After repeated warnings went unheeded, most of the illegally constructed sections of the Karakter Beach Bar was demolished by the Ministry of VROMI on Tuesday morning on orders signed by Minister of Infrastructure Theo Heyliger. Personnel from the departments of Inspection and Infrastructure Management, supported by representatives of government's Control Unit went to the site to execute the removal order.
The demolition order is supported by the fact that the principals of Karakter are not in possession of the relevant permits and not in compliance with the Building Ordinance and other applicable policies and regulations of the Government. Heavy equipment arrived on the scene en masse on Tuesday and immediately began removing the structures much to the despair of Karakter personnel and patrons of the popular hangout spot.
After most of the illegal structures had been demolished, Karakter managed to get a stop of the demolition order through a court injunction that was filed during the process of execution of the order. By that time however, just a contested low wall remained standing along with the legally constructed sections of the bar. Had it not been for the fact that the wrong equipment was on site for the wall removal, that too would have been reduced to rubble. Police also arrived on the scene to ensure that inspectors carried out the court orders.
Secretary General of the Ministry of VROMI Louis Brown explained: "I was called by the judge, who confirmed in an e-mail to my person to stop the execution of the removal order until such time that a decision is taken with respect to the court injunction filed by Karakter against government. As a result, I conveyed the order of the judge and the execution of the removal order was halted."
Karakter is contending that the retaining wall constructed on the beach does not require a permit since it does not exceed maximum heights outline in government regulations and it was built on the leased property that Karakter occupies. The Daily Herald understands that while the aforementioned is accurate, the wall is in conflict with various aspects of the beach policy and as such, a permit was never granted for its construction. "This point is to be settled in court based on the court injunction filed by Karakter," Brown said.
Owner of Karakter Jorrit Heekelaar said he and his staff are "angry and upset about the current situation" and still "in shock". He said since October 19, 2011 Karakter believed that the whole situation about the retaining wall had been settled with government. "On that day, Karakter received a letter from the VROMI department, signed by the Minister, stating that a retaining wall of maximum one meter height does not require a building permit," Heekelaar said.
"This letter was a reaction on a letter Karakter had sent to try to find a solution for the removal order of the retaining wall. In a previous letter of August 26, 2011, government had measured that our wall in question has an average height of 1 metre. Based on those two letters, Karakter was very pleased to conclude that our wall was finally tolerated. We were convinced that the case was closed," he added.
However, Heekelaar continued, last Friday, December 9, Karakter received a letter from the VROMI department again stating that on Tuesday December 13, government would remove the "wooden structure over the bus", "sea retaining wall" and "shed on the beach".
"We really didn't understand why we received this letter and thought that it was a matter of miscommunication within the VROMI department. The shed was already gone, in our opinion the wall was tolerated and we agree that we were late with the structure over the bus, but we were waiting for the canvas to replace the wood," Heekelaar explained.
"We called the person within the VROMI department who had been handling our case and he tried to find out what was happening. The whole Monday we kept on trying to reach VROMI, but we only received a reaction from Mr. Brown by the end of the day. He stated that the letter of October 19 was a 'general letter' and did not refer to our case. Karakter was really shocked when reading this. How can government send out such misleading letters? Based on this letter, Karakter had also withdrawn its court case, because Karakter was convinced the case was closed," Heekelaar said.
He said Karakter had started this court case, because it did not agree with the removal order. He said since the construction laws are not well defined, government should come with strong arguments. "Besides, we would have to explain to all the tourists that our retaining wall would have to go, while the dangerous ruins next to Karakter are already there for years. That goes against all common sense."
Heekelaar said Brown also emailed him on Monday night to inform that the planned removal would proceed. According to Heekelaar, Karakter's lawyer tried to "stop him and asked him to wait on a judge's decision on Tuesday morning.
"Unfortunately Mr. Brown did not respect this request and the workers came Tuesday morning and started with a total rudeness breaking down things. The worst was that the inspectors did not want to read any letters and the workers did not even now what was supposed to be broken down. Karakter was again really shocked by this attitude and total lack of communication. Karakter has immediately filed a police report for all the unnecessary damages."
Earlier this year environmental groups publicly complained about ongoing illegal constructions on public beaches and pointed to Karakter as a perpetrator of these acts. As a result of their complaints, inspectors of the VROMI Inspection department visited the site of Karakter Beach Bar and confirmed that there was illegal construction ongoing at the site.
The establishment was given a stop order by the inspection department, based on which the owners submitted a request for a building permit for the works already in progress. The building application was reviewed and determined not in compliance with the building ordinance and other applicable policies and regulations of the government. The Minister of VROMI denied the request for a building permit in May of 2011, and confirmed that the illegal construction should be removed by the applicant.
"The applicant appealed the decision to the Minister of VROMI with a request to reconsider the previous decision. The Minister established a committee that organized a hearing where the applicant and the departments involved were heard pertaining to the facts and positions regarding the appeal of Karakter. The committee advised the Minister to uphold the previous decision to deny the building permit because there were no grounds on the part of Karakter Beach Bar to do otherwise. The Minister followed the decision of the committee and informed Karakter of the decision. Furthermore, Karakter was once again instructed to remove all illegal construction on the property along the beach," Brown said.
He added that the inspection department carried out another inspections last week of the property and confirmed that the illegal construction was for large part still present on the site. "A letter was issued to Karakter, which I co-signed that to the extent the construction in question was not removed, the government would remove the construction at the expense of Karakter," Brown said.
Tottenham Hotspur Comedy Global economy BBC2 Twilight Dolomites
No comments:
Post a Comment