The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A Bahamian entrepreneur yesterday pledged that swimming pigs will “not be part” of his Adelaide-based tourist attraction as he prepares to battle the authorities’ rejection of a proposed beach bar and grill.

Charles Johnson, principal of Beyond Da Village Pig Experience, told Tribune Business that while he is still “taking care” of the animals they will no longer feature at the site given the strong opposition mounted by Adelaide Beach Drive residents prior to the bar and grill’s March 2022 rejection by the Town Planning Committee.

Supported by his attorney, Bjorn Ferguson, Mr Johnson is set to appeal the Committee’s decision to the Subdivision and Development Appeal Board, headed by Callenders & Co attorney and partner, Dawson Malone, on September 28, 2022. However, the move is again meeting fierce resistance from residents in south-western New Providence, who have told this newspaper that the entrepreneur is “beating a dead horse”, adding: “We’re not going to stand for it.”

Leslie Vanderpool, principal of the Bahamas International Film Festival, and a Beach Drive resident, said she was “shocked but not surprised” that Mr Johnson would seek to appeal given the controversy that surrounded the initial Town Planning Committee application and subsequent public consultation meetings.

She asserted her belief that, if The Bahamas is a country that abides by the rule of law, and follows the necessary regulations, then it is impossible for Beyond Da Village to obtain the necessary planning permissions because Adelaide Beach Drive is located in an area that is zoned as ‘Low Density Residential 1’. This means commercial activity is not supposed to take place.

However, Mr Johnson yesterday said he will make the case that his project should get the go-ahead based on south-west New Providence’s continued growth and development. In particular, he pointed to the proposed $63m Adelaide Pines subdivision, for which a separate Town Planning consultation will be held this month, as an example of a project that will have greater impact than his own via the mixed-use light industrial, storage, retail and office components.

And, despite being zoned ‘residential’, Mr Johnson charged that several Adelaide Beach Road homeowners were actually putting their properties to commercial use by leasing them out as Airbnb-style vacation rentals. He questioned why he should be blocked from offering similar, and beach access to tourists together with accompanying food and drink, if the planning authorities were to reject his appeal.

“He has every right to exercise his right to appeal. I’m not surprised. He’s a man that doesn’t understand much, and wants to have everything done his way,” Ms Vanderpool told this newspaper of the appeal. “But you cannot just change something that is legally binding, which is the residential zoning parameters.

“We don’t want him there. For him not to understand that.... Nobody benefits. We’re definitely going to respond. He seems to have lots of time on his hands to appeal, but he’s beating a dead horse. No one wants him here. What is there to appeal? There’s many commercial spaces elsewhere that he could go and operate on. It’s a residential zone. I’m shocked he’s appealing. He’s very stubborn, very stubborn.”

Rudy Stuart, another Adelaide Beach Drive resident, yesterday reiterated of Beyond Da Village: “We don’t want that. That’s a ‘no, no’, a definite ‘no, no’.” Promising that he and others will inform the Appeals Board of their objections in writing, he added that besides the zoning restrictions there were also concerns about the increased traffic and noise generated by Mr Johnson’s business.

“There were these four wheelers coming down and making a lot of noise,” Mr Stuart added. “We’re definitely against that. Beach Drive is totally against that. The people in Adelaide Village, it doesn’t affect them, so some say they want it to go ahead, but they aren’t even getting any jobs out of it... We’re definitely going to write and do what we have to do to show them that we’re against it. Adelaide Beach Drive is not going to stand for that.”

Mr Johnson, meanwhile, said his opponents knew of the appeal hearing before he did. Despite submitting his appeal within one week of Town Planning’s March rejection, he told Tribune Business that he “never got an official response” and only learned about the September 28 hearing after being alerted by his attorney, Mr Ferguson.

“Right now, the pigs portion is not going to happen any more. The pigs are not going to be part of it any more,” he disclosed to this newspaper. The focus, Mr Johnson added, is solely on the beach bar and grill approval, even though this means he will abandon the original business model and concept.

This was to offer visitors, who did not have the time, money or ability to visit the swimming pigs of Exuma, a “minimal experience” with just three to four animals in a New Providence setting that was more convenient for the likes of cruise passengers who need to return to their vessel by a specific time.

“I spent a lot of money on this particular venture, and didn’t go into it without having the other approvals from the police and Ministry of Agriculture,” Mr Johnson added. “I’m hoping I will be able to offer a tourist product that offers them somewhere where they can come and have access to the beach, and access to a bar and grill on the beach. That’s all I’m hoping for.

“I’m trying to get this to where I can operate and pay my bills. I lost a lot of money. It’s just dead. The tourists have stopped coming. There were a lot of spin-offs, and people making a living off what we were doing in the back there. There’s nothing happening in Adelaide.”

Mr Johnson said he had been informed there was “nothing to stop me offering beach access” to tourists, but alleged that he had been “harassed daily” by the police and this had turned visitors off from using his property.