AmbergrisCaye.com Home Forums The Cayes Environment Grand Belizean Estates, Too Good to be True

It would seem that these transactions were, if not illegal, certainly not in the best interest of the people. The argument is that he has to be compensated for what he purchased was worth, not what he paid for it. Of course the compensation happened a short time after the original transaction so there is no legitimate way the property could have appreciated that much in that amount of time. That begs the question why would the government sell something worth millions for $50,000?
Where is Jr.? He seems intent on representing the interests of speculators over the interests of the people that elected him to represent them. The sad part is he was not always like this and I was comfortable with him representing us. Now???

Concerning the differences between GBE and Sugar Caye, for those that might be interested, I see no way that a standard septic system can be installed on any lot in Sugar Caye and building permits should not be issued unless an acceptable sewage system is possible. There is not enough "dry land" to allow the effluent to percolate into the ground water system without polluting it and the surrounding waters and of course the lots themselves. The only solution is a proper sewer system tied into our existing system. Without that the only type of system that would work would be a composting toilet or incinerating toilet.

In the early '90's I built a small single family home way down south near the South Beach area and the DOE and Housing and Planning would not allow me to build unless I installed a composting toilet. Cholera and Typhoid are real possibilities when you do not have proper sewage disposal..

Sugar Caye is marginally better than San Mateo as the lots are not underwater and there are roadways. The standard soak-away requires 2 feet of soil below the last layer of rocks and gravel. Those conditions do not exist in San Mateo or Sugar Caye or parts of GBE. Town board has copies of Typical Septic System supplied by Central Planning and approved by Health. If I am wrong I would love to be corrected.

Folks need to check these things out before they buy a lot to build their dream or vacation home. They may end up living in conditions not expected. Our regulations are currently being ignored and consumers are not getting the protection that good regs should provide.

This should be first on our area reps list but he does not understand the significance of what is going on or does not care considering his stand on these "compensations" and lack of action on San Mateo.

Buyer Beware, deal with a reputable agent and dont get directly involved with those selling developments as you have no protection against misrepresentations while a competent realtor has a reputation to protect.

Thanks Elbert. We figured as much and didn't plan on building for about 10 years but wanted to purchase land now. I know a lot can change in 10 years but we've decided we're going to take a chance. We've our last stay on the east side was 30 days and we loved every minute of it! I just wish there was more information available on works in progress on the island, sub-divisions and things like that. I've been following the newspapers etc and really enjoy the local stories but there doesn't seem to be much regarding building, permits and other similar stories. I guess it's not a big news story on the island. That's one of the reasons I began reading the chats regarding GBE because I was looking for as much info as I could find about the island and building. Thanks again.

Mike thank you for the informaiton you've provided in your posts. It's helpful to me because we're looking at purchasing a lot in Ambergris Bay. We have a realtor and will ask him about the permits and septic issues you've mentioned as well as checking on these things ourselves. Not that I don't trust our realtor but he may not know. Thanks again for the info.

Check out the latest info from GBE...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJA2naQKW_c

Looks like a huge set up to me. All this work must be fake!

For better, or for worse... the work is anything but fake.

We drove the road a few days ago. It is COMPLETE from one side of the island to the other (including a bridge.) It's arguable that from a driving standpoint, it's the best road on the island. It took us approximately 15 minutes to drive from the beach on the east side to their dock on the back (perhaps 3 miles.)

There are obviously a LOT of issues to be wrangled with before anyone starts building back there, but access to the land is there.

The ride from San Pedro TO the road going west however, now that is wet/bumpy.

SF Jeff,
I heard one of the guides mention he went on his motorcycle to the west coast from the east Sunday. I was surprised.
How do you see the drainage? is it like a huge mud dam or did they put in more culverts?

Elbert,

From what I could see there is one main bridge w/ SIGNIFICANT culverts in place... culverts you could take a small boat through... The bridge is over what is rather the "main" part of the lagoon, on the far eastern side of the road... The rest of the road on the eastern side is more of a built up dam, no culverts from what I saw... Once you get about 1/2 way across, the road is much more on solid land and there are drainage channels on either side of the road. The last stretch of road heading west, as you approach the west side/bay is on high/solid land.

Elbert: You afraid to use the road?

Elbert I wanted to let you know that I was recently in AC to see for myself what is going on with the road. It was important since we're considering a land purchase on the west side of the island. As SF Jeff said the road is driveable and extends from the east coast to the west coast. I hesitate to say the road is done because it is drivable from east to west but it isn't open to the public yet since they are still working on it. My husband and I ran into Mr. Mitchell at dinner and asked him point blank about the road and explained that we were looking to purchase land on the west coast and that we were concerned about the controversy noted in the blogs. I thought he was quiet honest about what has been completed and what their plans are for the immediate future. We were invited to attend a tour of GBE the following morning which we did. There were two other people also on the tour that had already purchased their lots in GBE and they were along to view their lots. We were up front about not purchasing in GBE but we were still invited to go on the tour to see for ourselves what has been done with the road.

We picked up the tour on the west coast at the GBE pier and took a truck into the sub division and then took the road through the back side of GBE to the east side. The road is high, dry and easily 100 times better than the north road out of San Pedro. They have only built the road up and haven't graded the road and it was still smooth and an easy ride in a large pick up truck. On the portion of the road that goes through the lagoon the road was built up very high and there is a very large "culvert" which I would consider more of a bridge but I'm not an engineer. It's made of concrete and is large enough for a smaller water craft to go under. There were other large large metal culvert pipes that were placed at various places along the road in the lagoon area and we were told that these culverts would be in place before the final grading was completed on the road. We were also told that since the road has been completed to the east side of the island GBE will be running power to their sub-division within a few months but they also said not to hold them to the time frame because there could be a million delays of one sort or another. I thought this was reasonable.

Overall we were impressed with the tour and the efforts they seem to be taking regarding the lagoon, the road and the power. There were some questions they couldn't answer but I never got the impression there was anything that they wouldn't answer. I also understood that their operation was determined to finish their plans for the sub-division, the road and power but at the same time they are trying to maintain as much of the lagoon and wildlife as possible while finishing the road.

Overall we were impressed with the project as it was presented to us and we were provided contact information should be have any additional questions.