Hodges Bay Club stops pool construction

Expansion work for a new pool at the Hodges Bay Club has been halted, but this was not due to any order being issued by the Development Control Authority (DCA).
The Chief Executive Officer/Director of the Club and BluPearl, the construction company executing the construction project, Jeff Wellemeyer, said the decision was made by the company.
At the same time, he confirmed that the DCA visited the site and this was as a result of complaints from residents of Hodges Bay who questioned what appears to be an infringement on beach access; encroachment on Crown land and potential for erosion in the area where the construction activity is taking place.
In his response to the reporter’s queries made via email, the businessman said, “First, the contractor stopped working on the pool as soon as we knew there was a potential issue. Second, the contractor was not told to stop pouring concrete as it was not even scheduled to be poured until late this week.”
Wellemeyer, who is part owner of the Club alongside investor Steven Fine, added, “As soon as we have the accurate survey information and have been able to discuss with the DCA, I will get back with you on our plan of action.”
The move comes just days after the Department of Environment inspected the site on May 22 and said it found a number of breaches, thus it wrote to the DCA asking it to take action to stop the work at the Club until the issues were discussed and addressed.
That visit was done by Rudolph Zachariah and Alexander Desuza who said that upon inspection, they found five issues, including: A new pool has recently been constructed outside of the property boundary; a second pool is currently being constructed by the villas which is 10 feet from the shoreline in a 100 ft setback zone; public beach access has been blocked off; boulders have been placed on the beach and contributing to erosion problems; workers have also been seen using pails to remove sargassum from the beach and throw[ing] it on the other side of the groyne.”
(More in today’s Daily Observer)