Southlands developers’ plans to build on the shoreline carry high risks
If the Southlands developers build on the shoreline as planned, they will:
- Set a precedent for making Bermuda’s shoreline resemble Miami or Cancun where rows and rows of hotels are built virtually right on the beaches.
- Open shoreline to other development opportunists - once one hotel does it then other developers will argue they should be able to do likewise for hotels, condos, an other luxury housing projects.
- Require construction of “foreshore reinforcement” and protection devices - experts and experience tell us that without protective walls, revetments, groins and other massive concrete devices, no buildings can survive heavy weather and waves on the shoreline.
- Affect beach dynamics far beyond property borders - whatever beach protection device is used, it will change the dynamics of the beachfront leading to beach loss or disruption further along the coastline.
- Set stage for coastline litter - when any destructive event occurs, the construction materials, including glass, along with furnishings and other debris will be strewn along the South Shore, making the area far more unsafe and unaesthetic than it would otherwise be.
The Bermuda Government has this information from the Coastal Erosion study commissioned after Hurricane Fabian. We all have this information from the news from Cancun & other places reporting on the consequences of shoreline development.
http://www.boston.com/news/science/articles/2007/03/11/cancun_nature_at_war_over_beaches/
http://www.examiner.com/a-612820~Cancun__Nature_at_War_Over_Beaches.html
Building on Bermuda’s shoreline must not be allowed!