I do feel for property owners within a few hundred feet of the new barge docking area. There will certainly be noise and road activity and it won't be for just a few minutes a day...the needs of the island dictate that it'll run for several hours a day whenever a fully loaded barge unloads.

That said.....

The argument that Hol Chan Marine Park is suddenly about to be threatened and destroyed by the dredging of a new channel to accommodate the barges is perhaps stretching things somewhat. In the past much larger dredging activities in the same area have not destroyed Hol Chan or any other part of the reef. I've got aerial photos of just about all of the East coast of Ambergris Caye and they clearly show where much larger dredging activity along a 12 mile stretch of Ambergris Caye has occurred than where the present barge docking areas are and yet the reef is still healthy in those areas (climate change notwithstanding).

I think there are better arguments against moving the barge landing area so far south and most of those arguments "against" are detrimental to the barge operators: Longer road distance for deliveries, poor roads which will get worse in the wet season, prevailing winds which will blow sideways on to the barges and cause strain on anchor lines, long distance between the barge landing and barge company warehousing. I am certain that the price of freight will have to rise a bit in order to compensate for the difficulties the barge operators will encounter in their new homes.

I do jog down to the new barge marina West of the DFC on a regular basis and I can tell you that the docking area is deep enough and large enough for 3 large barges. The problem is that the channels that were dredged by the government for access to the marina are simply not wide enough for safe navigation for the barges in use today. The windage on a fully loaded barge being pushed by a hard working tug boat would almost certainly result in grounding....steering would be well nigh impossible.

Those navigation channels to the marina need to be widened considerably and unless the government is willing to do that I can't see any alternatives to the ones being favoured by the town council.