Planning for a Sustainable Future in the Bahamas

by Larry Smith

"Anchor projects are so out of favour today that if the government sees those words in a proposal their first inclination is to throw the document away." -- anonymous source.

"To plan is one thing, to grow (or not grow) according to plan is quite another." -- Dr Xavier Briggs

Dr Xavier de Souza Briggs is our latest planning guru. He follows Canadian Malcolm Martini, (planning consultant to former prime minister Perry Christie), who followed EDAW (a California-based design firm that came up with the Nassau redevelopment plan now gathering dust on official shelves).

Briggs has strong Bahamian ties. A former Clinton administration official in the Department of Housing, his mother is the daughter of Bill Aranha, Nassau's crown lands officer during the 1940s, and his father was an out island doctor. His uncle is Paul Aranha, the retired airline pilot.

"'I was raised in Nassau and Miami, and my family's public service ties to the development of the Bahamas go back five generations," Briggs told Tough Call recently. "I have worked on quite a range of the issues facing the Bahamas, mainly in the US but also in Brazil, India, South Africa, and Central America."

These assignments combined complex issues, multiple stakeholders, uncertainty about the future, and the need to act - in other words, they were just the right kind of rehearsals for his new Bahamas partnership. But how did this project come about?

Well, in his role as associate professor of urban planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston, Briggs was faculty advisor to a Bahamian grad student named Nakeischea Loi Smith, who last year wrote a thesis on Bahamian land planning and development issues.

Smith's research focused on the social and environmental challenges associated with so-called "anchor projects" - the development of big residential resorts on major out islands that has been promoted by FNM and PLP governments over the past 15 years, but which recently came to be identified with the administration of former prime minister Perry Christie.

She argued that the lack of a land use framework, poor environmental controls, perceived favouritism towards foreigners and the exclusion of locals from decision-making had led to popular resentment and spawned unpleasant disputes with developers and the government.

This was especially so, Smith said, where "such policies are seemingly threatening to make housing unaffordable, overwhelm small island cultures with newcomer needs, privatise cherished community commons and generate conflicts over labour shortages."

According to Professor Briggs, "Smith's decision to focus her thesis on land development, and her careful effort to follow up on a few instincts I shared with her as starting points, blossomed into a specific concept: to make sure Bahamian communities, their elected leaders, the media, and business and other stakeholders have access to the very best thinking, worldwide, on how to tackle (these) challenges."

The challenges were thrown into sharp relief this past weekend when Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham and Works Minister Earl Deveaux led an official delegation to Cat Island to discuss a 1,900-acre, $200 million residential resort at Fine Bay. This project will incorporate all the familiar features - condos, town houses, estate homes, hotel/casino and golf course - and it generated mixed reactions from the locals.

Colin Higgs, permanent secretary at the Ministry of Works, says the government's approach is not to approve any foreign investment proposal that may significantly impact Bahamian communities without prior consultation with residents and other stakeholders. But the previous government said much the same thing and still had to engage in an endless dogfight with the Save Guana Cay folks.

By most accounts, there is overwhelming support for the Cat Island Golf and Beach Resort, which will create almost a thousand jobs and does not involve the transfer of any crown land. But Sammy Thurston, who runs a small inn at Bennett's Harbour, remains convinced that such a large-scale development will destroy Cat Island's unique lifestyle.

"We are creating small cities on every island," he was reported to have told the assembled officials and bigwigs. "That is not good. We are soon going to put ourselves in one box as a tourist product. I should be saying 'yes' because I will make money from this development. But I am saying 'no, no, no' because we need to step back and think about what we are doing."

His comment was an apt criticism of the so-called anchor project policy and the consequences such large-scale projects can have for small underdeveloped communities.

Truthfully, the anchor project policy is a matter of opportunity more than design. The rising demand for second homes among American baby boomers (the wealthiest generation in the history of the world); combined with a scarcity of affordable waterfront property in the US has turned our sparsely populated out islands into an irresistible investment magnet.

But the lack of planning and forethought has left local communities facing development pressures ranging from the unmanaged influx of thousands of poor migrant workers and high-income foreign homeowners; skyrocketing real estate prices and associated mortgage costs for Bahamians, traffic congestion and fewer recreational options in Nassau, and more.

The title of Loi Smith's thesis - "Whose Land is it Anyway? An analysis of the Management and Distribution of Crown Land in the Bahamas"- gives voice to these concerns. And it concludes with a call for a national development plan supported by improved inter-agency collaboration, clarification of land tenures and stronger environmental regulations.

Smith is the daughter of Deborah Mackey, the first Bahamian audiologist. She was hired by the government last spring and joined land mapping analyst Daniele Hanek in a small planning unit set up by Malcolm Martini, the Canadian consultant who retired shortly after the May 2 general election. When Earl Deveaux assumed responsibility for the government's planning functions under the new administration, he initiated the MIT partnership with Briggs.

"I wanted to establish a process whereby Bahamians were linked with credible institutions so we could build long-term capacity," Deveaux told me. "Martini wanted to do a plan for Abaco, using Smith and Hanek. And I asked why they could not lead such a process themselves, with our support. It appeared to be a win-win strategy to save money and develop key linkages with two of America's great learning institutions - Harvard and MIT."

Although Harvard is not a signatory to the Bahamas partnership, it may contribute faculty, students and other help as part of the overall initiative. Briggs is both a graduate, and a former faculty member of Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.

The focus of the partnership will be on planning goals and strategies, but it will also encompass ways to make those ideas real, Briggs says. That includes working with the College of the Bahamas to expand the number of Bahamians trained in planning; and "ensuring that public officials are planning collaboratively with the public and with private and not-for-profit organizations."

And all of this must be underpinned with comprehensive geographic and market databases, an up-to-date digital land registry and technical support for sustainable development legislation and policies in areas like transport, housing and town planning.

"Minister Deveaux has clearly expressed to me his understanding of the opportunity question," Briggs said. "If we have the will and assemble the resources to do some bold things that are required--how will we know we're applying that will most productively? That's what this partnership is all about."

Although a work plan has yet to be fleshed out, one of the first activities will be a field study that engages MIT students in producing a model development framework for Abaco, which is on the cusp of a major transformation and is seen by most experts as in need of urgent attention. This study will identify sustainable goals and outline the kinds of decisions, technologies, and investments that will be needed to achieve them.

"The partnership will also include consultation, by me and my colleagues, on planning support systems and planning education," Briggs explained. "As well as more Nassau-specific opportunities, such as downtown redevelopment planning."

Briggs will be in Nassau next week for meetings with the prime minister and other senior officials. He and Dr Michael Flaxman, will give a presentation on sustainable development to the Bahamas Historical Society on June 16. Whereas Briggs has a background in sociology and engineering, Flaxman specialises in modeling sustainable futures.

The Bahamas is in a fortunate position with respect to development planning because 70 per cent of our land - some 3.5 million acres - is controlled by the government. Nevertheless, as Smith points out, Bahamians are increasingly fed up with the government's mismanagement of crown land resources.

""I myself had watched as real estate prices began to increase beyond reach and I witnessed the disappearance of many beach and coastline areas to which I had had access since childhood. Furthermore, the amount of available crown land was steadily declining, and it seemed Bahamians had little to show for it. Land for development projects was being granted in an ad hoc manner with little or no prior consultation with the Bahamian public.

"The (idea) for this thesis evolved when I began to contemplate the implications of this development model for my own future."

She attributes the problem to the complex, and often informal, systems of land tenure that have evolved since Loyalist days, the unreliabilty of land records, the lack of national planning, and the absence of laws and regulations to properly manage our land and marine resources.

A master plan for national development is our most pressing need, she says. Policies tailored to each island that would cover zoning regulations, population densities, immigration and infrastructure needs, affordable housing, coastal access and environmental set asides.

On CNN this past Sunday, former secretary of state Henry Kissinger was asked what advice he would give the next president of the United States. His answer? He should consider the kind of world he wants to see in four years - in detail.

In other words, we should not rely on tactical decisions to guide our way to the future. There must be some overarching view of what we want to achieve and what needs to be done to get there. This is what we must do in the Bahamas, because decisions that are made in a vacuum, without due care and attention, may not benefit us in the long run.

And according to Loi Smith, this was the conclusion reached by almost all those she interviewed for her thesis - from government officials to businesspeople, developers and environmental activists.

"After centuries of mismanagement, now is a critical point to take a step back and evaluate long-range goals of where the country should like to be 10, 20 or 30 years from today."

Comments

[Joe Gibson]

As always... excellent piece. The type of stuff we need to see more of. The earlier piece on ZNS was exceptional. Should give government food for thought.. If they could develop the balls.

[Nanaqu2]

I need more information but this is something that we need. Tell us more about it.

[Bill]

Hi Larry,

I simply don't get the jist of your argument? Are you NOW happy that anchor developments, under any other name, is a "good" thing now, since a MIT and the FNM see's the need for development? Or, is this simply a yuppie-esque fluff piece, and a "fence sit" at best?

Larry, you have to maintain some form of credibility, through consistency, in your writing and reportage.

I'm troubled when I read your "positions" some times. You and Rick Lowe. Some things, just have to be right and on the right time, regardless of who it is doing it. Just because your friends says so, does not make it more or less right, under any circumstance.

Not saying you flip flopped on anchor developments, but, since you have a permanent perch, on this blog and in the Tribune, it just guts me to hear any semblance of hand-clapping to day, when we had hand-wringing yesterday; with no better evidence or empirical data, for you to base your new positions, on.

All this FNM and their cohorts have done, is repudiated the brand name of "anchor projects", continued the ground work and framework of the existing projects, and simply just went on business as usual.

Unless you want me to call you a total fool, which I clearly do not want to call you, this small mindedness and pervasive prejudice, is choking this country from sensible and progressive growth--- you don't even have a clue, most likely, to the extent of Brigg's and Smith's work, let alone know what's really best. I KNOW you don't.

I hate when I have to pull down a piece of your work, but, I want to demarcate this. Because, developments are for ALL OF US. When you block, use your media as a propaganda agent for divisiveness and not public disclosure, fester and stuffle up good initiatives, whether they be PLP or FNM, for your personal agenda, sets us and this country, back.

Now, I know you may have loyal readership. But, please, get off of this hate the PLP agenda, for ONCE in your life. Be a Bahamian, instead of thinking and feeling, solely, like a white Bahamian minority!

The issue why I'm ticked with this latest article, is that you are established and have your high end support, for you to eat the next day, with or without social and political provisions, made to and for you. The black boys and girls on the come up, on the other side, look for continuity in our government, and not stupid partisanism, because of personal prejudices, and using the mechanisms of influence, like the media, to fuel stupid and nonsensical agenda's.

Simply put, you end up hurting this country, more than you are wanting to help- if you want to help this country and not want to help yourself and satiate your bloodlust, in general.

I say this, out of care and concern, in regards to this under tone of racial and prejudicial preference in government provisions and the appearance of the mentality behind it. As you have seen, PM Ingraham went on with business as usual, after he stiff armed your lobby, and made you like it. All we want, is for you to like it when anyone else, does it and come together.

Take it as you wish, Larry.

Best,

Bill.

[larry smith]

Bill, I have very serious doubts about your literacy. Perhaps you can make that into a racial slur too.

[EB Christen]

Literacy... how about sanity?

Bill, you may want to consider reading what you have written before you post it. For two reasons, one, you don't make any sense and, two, ad hominem arguments don't change the facts and they certainly don't persuade intelligent people. You get an A for effort, but an F otherwise. Better luck next time.

[Roxann]

Lionfish Conferance at the University of Miami Invasion of LionFish april 15th... Very inportant..