There is more than meets the eye between Savvy on the Bay (Allan Kinch) and government.

It should be obvious to onlookers there is more than meets the eye concerning Allan Kinch rumble with government and developments at Savvy on Bay on Bay Street. A recent pronouncement on the matter by Attorney General Dale Marshall that two of three tracts of land owned by Kinch will be acquired by the government for car park has only served to trigger questions about why the government has taken a decision to acquire land that was sold to Kinch by a former government. The lack of transparency regarding this transaction AND others adds to a growing distrust by the public of the government.

Here is a summary of events in the matter up to now from one perspective.

• The acceptance letter from BTII was in 2015 which means the disputed lands at Bay Street from application until it was approved for sale straddles both DLP and BLP administrations.
• Kinch had to forego investment income on 4 million to purchase the property. He was told BTII would help with the planning process and that the plans would add to the Tourism development planned for the area.

• BU understands Kinch had a developer bring in $180,000,000. Richard Sealy at the time spoke about the many jobs it would create.The proposed project was obviously in sync with what government planned for the Bay Street area.
• Mia won the government in 2018 and George Payne’s law office took over the sale for the government which was completed [note AG Dale Marshall was a partner in Walton’s law firm before his appointment as AG].
• Trevor Prescod for some unexplained reason removed trees on the property and directed a verbal attack at Kinch hiding under the protection of parliamentary privilege, referring to him as a white shadow. Was he directed to breath fire rage by those on high?
• Fast forward to the problems with parking and a reality that from all reports Bernie Weatherhead at Copacabana complained that Kinch took Copacabana’s parking. It is understood  BTII had been renting the land to Weatherhead for free. [It is also reported that Copacabana built without permission and utilized public lands at Lewis Alley which  is still awaiting approval by town planning?]

There is more the blogmaster can post about the ongoing real estate battle but the blogmaster suspects the average reader will not be interested at this juncture. The bottom line is that for a reason not made public, the government through Attorney General Dale Marshall has decided to boot out many small operators from a space that was laid waste by bush and infested with rodents to build a car park. A decision that lacks commonsense given the abandoned buildings at Jemmot Lane on the other side of the road. Barbadians should recall the haste with which the rat infested Liquidation Centre was knocked down to make way for the Hyatt hotel 4 years ago. Barbadians also should recall AG Marshall and Member of Parliament excusing himself from entering the Joe’s River dispute in the event his office had to represent the matter in court. AG Marshall should be smart enough to know that Allan Kinch seems the kind of businessman who will seek redress to the courts.

Barbadians should also recall the haste with which Maloney receives or ignores approvals from government and Town Planning for one project or the other, however, Kinch has had to be happy with his matter stuck at the approval process since the mid 2000s.

What about the shops at Worthing Square operating without planning permission?

What about that application with Fort Carlisle that is a large condo building applied for next to Yacht Club in January and already approved? Has there been a town hall meeting as part of the EIA process Ambassador David Commisiong?

One law for the medes and another for the persians indeed.

TBC…