Blue Lagoon publicaccess rights case heads back to court June 17
ALL PARTIES involved in the controversy surrounding beach-access rights to the Blue Lagoon, one of Portland’s premiere tourist attractions, are to return to court on June 17, when the matter will be presented.
In the Portland Parish Court yesterday, Parish Judge Maxine Dennis-McPherson urged attorney Marcus Goffe, who is representing the plaintiffs Wilburne Carr, Cleveland Davis, Alex Minott, and the Jamaica Beach Birthright Environmental Movement (JaBBEM), to ensure that the scope for discussion is met among all parties. This, she said, could also pave the way for mediation and possible solutions.
It is against that background that Dennis-McPherson has granted Goffe and his team more time to complete the discussions and for them to return to court in June for a hearing, after which a trial date may be set for the prolonged matter.
In the case brought by Goffe and his team, the plaintiffs are seeking to gain access rights to the Blue Lagoon, which, according to them, has seen an indefinite closure and blocking of the designated access road as a result of ongoing construction.
According to Goffe, community residents now have to traverse through a private property to get to the Blue Lagoon, with no guarantee that they will always be able to use that route.
“The road is still being used by the ongoing construction taking place. Access is permitted by an alternative route. But certainly, it is not what it was prior to the roadblock. And that is a concern,” Goffe told The Gleaner yesterday.
“If the public closure gets prolonged, which is going on already for well over a year, and then it turns into some sort of a permanent situation, then that would be a loss of the public’s right to access. The decision by the judge is to allow more time for discussion before we go full speed ahead to trial. So this is a normal part of the court process. Oftentimes we see where there is scope for discussion towards negotiation and settlement.
“Where things can be agreed upon it might be easier and quicker to get solutions that way if the parties are amenable to working things out in that manner. But that is a normal, routine way to explore that avenue before we go full speed to trial. The discussion really surrounds the public-access right and how that right can be preserved, but the finer details will come out in the discussions,” he concluded.
The defendants in the case surrounding access rights to the Blue Lagoon are the Portland Municipal Corporation and the Jamaica National Heritage Trust.