The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

TRIBUNE Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A DEVELOPER is blaming its “Johnny come lately” rival after a planning chief challenged how the $200m Rosewood Exuma project would negatively impact its plans if it was “no longer pursuing” its own eco-tourism development.

Turtlegrass Resort & Island Club, in a statement to Tribune Business yesterday, said the challenge to its Rosewood Exuma opposition by Dr Roosevelt Whyms, the Subdivision and Development Appeal Board’s deputy chairman, “gets the story exactly backwards” by ignoring the link between ‘cause and effect’.

Asserting that it “wants to build” its promised eco-tourism resort, and that “this ambition has never wavered”, Turtlegrass argued that - despite being the first of the two Big Sampson Cay developers to obtain a Heads of Agreement with the Government - the nature of the project proposed by its rival, Miami-based Yntegra Group, means it cannot proceed because this will alter the very “pristine” environment its concept needs to thrive.

Turtlegrass, whose principal is Exuma resident, Bob Coughlin, pushed back after Dr Whyms - during its recent bid to overturn the preliminary site plan approval granted for the Rosewood Exuma development - questioned how the latter could affect its eco-tourism property if “that doesn’t actually exist”.

Dr Whyms’ challenge came at a recent Appeal Board hearing that was separate and apart from Turtlegrass’s legal challenge to Rosewood Exuma’s environmental approvals, which began in the Supreme Court yesterday. He spoke after Jeffrey Clark, a Turtlegrass director and its chief financial officer, had confirmed under cross-examination that the developer “stopped pursuing the eco-tourism resort in March 2024” due to the uncertainties created by Yntegra’s plans for the adjacent property.

“Mr Clark, you mentioned when we did the site visit, it was bought to our attention that you had shut down your development,” Dr Whyms said, referring to the Appeal Board’s June 10, 2026, trip to Sampson Cay. “So, if you had shut down your development and discontinued the eco-tourism that you were doing, then how is it that this proposed development is going to affect your project that doesn't actually exist?”

Mr Clark, conceding this was “a fair question”, reiterated that Mr Coughlin and Turtlegrass “want to build” and “would love to do development there” having already invested millions in infrastructure and establishing a foundation for their project. He argued, though, that they were forced to pause because the scale of Yntegra’s neighbouring proposal, and especially the location of its service dock and shipping channel, were incompatible with their plans.

“We want to build. We spent $20m on infrastructure and set-up on the islands,” Mr Clark asserted. “We put a $1m RoRo (roll on, roll off dock) on the south end of the island. A million dollars. It's not my money, it's my boss's, but we've spent a ton of money getting this facility ready to prepare for an eco-tourism resort.

“It has been our hope that we could further move forward with the eco-tourist; we're across the north cut from the nicest resort in the entire Caribbean. It is a pretty spectacular place, and we would love to do development there.” Mr Clark also confirmed that Turtlegrass had continued developing private cottages at the site for Mr Coughlin, his family and their guests, but this was halted - with 53 Bahamian workers terminated - just before May’s election after planning authority intervention.

Dr Whyms, though, probed further by asking Mr Clark: “So, in essence, then, you changed the plan, the original plan that the Government had approved for the development on Turtlegrass? You did it, or your boss [Mr Coughlin] decided to do it?” To which Mr Clark replied: “You can say me. That’s fine.”

Yntegra and its supporters are likely to seize on Dr Whyms’ questions, and Mr Clark’s replies, to argue that the Government should invoke any ‘claw back’ permissions in the Turtlegrass Heads of Agreement and reclaim the public land granted to its key opponent on the basis that it is not developing what it promised - an eco-tourism resort.

However, Turtlegrass, in its statement to Tribune Business, asserted that this would be totally unjustified with such reasoning both misrepresenting and ignoring what caused it to place the eco-tourism plans on hold. Responding directly to Dr Whyms, it said: “Any suggestion that Turtlegrass has no stake in Sampson Cay because its resort is not under construction gets the story exactly backwards.

“Our plans to build were ruined by Yntegra, and by its proposals [for] the pristine North Bay on which our resort was founded.” Turtlegrass reiterated that it was present on Sampson Cay, and had signed its 2023 Heads of Agreement with the Government, “a full year” before its rival neighbour emerged with details of its own development.

“Then, in March 2024, Yntegra submitted their plans to turn the North Bay into an industrial shipping lane,” it asserted. “This is a pristine area of thriving coral reefs, conch beds and seagrass meadows. The plans involve a supply dock, a seawall, barges and fuel tankers, all directly in front of our beaches.

“Nobody in their right mind builds a low-density eco-resort facing a service channel. So in April 2024 we felt we had no choice but to halt our plans, and we told the Government and the public why.

“For more than two years we have offered the obvious solution: Yntegra should move the dock south, where deep water already exists and no dredging is needed. Yntegra has refused. In January 2026, the Government's own Department of Physical Planning said that relocating the service dock was essential. It still has not happened.”

Turtlegrass, in concluding its statement to this newspaper, added: “Our intention was always to showcase the beauty and diversity of the North Bay to the world. We planned to welcome up to 100 guests at a time for weddings and other events, set against one of the most extraordinary natural backdrops in The Bahamas. An industrial shipping lane destroys that vision, as do other plans by Yntegra that have recently come to light. 

“Let there be no doubt: Turtlegrass wants to build. We would love nothing more than to see our resort rise on Sampson Cay, and that ambition has never wavered. Being unable to build it has been deeply painful - for us and for the Exumians who were ready to work alongside us.

“But Yntegra's plans for the North Bay stand in the way. That is why we have committed so much to this legal fight; to protect the North Bay and all the life it supports, and in the hope that one day we can build the eco-friendly resort we set out to create.”

Mr Clark, during the Subdivision and Development Appeal Board hearing earlier this month, tried to explain this chain of events in response to Dr Whyms’ questions. “So the plan was to develop two beaches and then a centre island in the marina, right, and the first beach was going to be for private residences for the family always,” he explained.

“We intended to build the private residences on what we call Crocks Cove, which is the one that's the western beach. Then, once we got that established with the infrastructure, we wanted to put water and we wanted to put power. We put a $1.5m solar deal on there, which has a lot of potential to generate power, and so that's all been set up, and go on that. We were doing that, and then we were going to move into the resort phase.

“But when we learned about the [Yntegra] plans in March 2024, we were like, ‘whoa, whoa, whoa, this thing is encroaching upon us crazy’. The initial plans, you recall had a kind of a marina in front of Crocks Cove, like directly in front of our beaches. And so we were like, we gotta figure out what's going on. So we're going to pull up, we're not going to pursue any bmore permitting, we're not going to pursue anything else and we're going to pause, and that's where we are.”

Fred Smith KC, the Callenders & Company attorney and partner representing Turtlegrass, labelled Yntegra a “Johnny come lately” developer after Mr Clark confirmed Mr Coughlin’s company was the first of the two to sign a Heads of Agreement with the Government. “They were the Johnny Come Lately trying to build their development, which was going to negatively impact what you were proposing to do, correct?” he challenged.

But, not surprisingly, attorneys for both Yntegra and the director of physical planning both seized on Mr Clark’s admission that Turtlegrass “decided not to pursue the eco-tourism resort” after learning about the Rosewood Exuma developer’s plans.

Edward Fitzgerald KC, the UK attorney hired by the Government to represent its regulatory agencies in the Sampson Cay battle, asked Mr Clark: “So what is the resort now? What's the proposal for the resort? It's not an eco-tourism resort. What kind of resort is it?”

To which Mr Clark replied: “The owner would like to be able to stay there with his family and a few guest, so we have attempted to put on the island some private residences and the infrastructure to support those private residences.” Mr Fitzgerald shot back: “So it's an eco-tourism resort but it's a facility for the owner and his family, is that right?

“It's just when we're considering the contiguous development, the question is what kind of a development is it? It’s no longer an eco-tourism resort, you’re saying. It’s just for the family of the owner, is that right, and his friends?” Mr Clark confirmed this but, again, blamed this on the “neighbouring encroachment” by Yntegra.

This line of questioning was picked up by Robert Adams KC, the Delaney Partners attorney, who was representing Yntegra. Mr Clark, under his cross-examination, changed the date when Turtlegrass announced it was not proceeding with its development from March 2024 to March 2025.

“March 2024,” Mr Adams said. “Two years before the decision on this [preliminary site plan] application, you had already made the decision not to continue with the construction of the eco-resort?” Mr Clark corrected the date to March 2025, but Mr Adams persisted: “So before this application was submitted to the Board or the committee, rather in December 2025, Turtlegrass had already made the decision to discontinue constructing the resort. Is that right?”

Mr Clark confirmed this, and then detailed the work Turtlegrass had done to prepare for the eco-tourism resort. “So because we inherited an island that had people living on it, there was an existing cottage on the island and there was also a runway for landing strip for planes, and there were roads that connected the north end and the south end of the island,” he said.

“We were able to leverage that infrastructure to place our man camp actually on the runway, and we also were able to leverage the facilities from the existing cottage that was there to support most of the man camp facility. So we only had to do minor upgrades in order to be able to bring workers on to the island.”

This prompted Mr Adams to challenge whether Turtlegrass itself had made any application for site plan approval, sparking a furious intervention and exchange with Mr Smith that never resulted in Mr Clark supplying an answer to that question. The Subdivision and Development Appeal Board has reserved its decision on Turtlegrass’ bid to overturn Yntegra’s preliminary site plan approval after requesting that all sides provide further and final written submissions.