Harbour loses second court case against Dock Maarten

October 13, 2015 10:18 AM
PHILIPSBURG - St. Maarten Harbour Holding Company (SMH) NV has failed a second time in its efforts to put a halt to plans of Dock Maarten NV to construct a marina with a pier to accommodate ultra- and giga-yachts with lengths exceeding 100 metres.
 
An injunction SMH had filed with the Court of First Instance met the same fate as one which was filed in November 2014, it emerged Friday.
The Dock Maarten extension started in October 2014 with the initial phase of expanding a breakwater originally built in 1984. The project will entail creating a deeper basin for the facility that services ultra- or giga-yachts, and is to result in additional protection of boat slips belonging to the company, as well as Bobby’s Marina.
 
A building permit for the expansion of Dock Maarten, owned by the Deher family since 1979, was issued by the Minister of Public Housing, Spatial Planning, Environment and Infrastructure VROMI in July 2014, in which it received permission “to construct a rock revetment…located at Juancho Yrausquin Boulevard.”
 
The Harbour Holding Company had requested the Court to forbid the construction on or under water parcels in the area of which it claims to be the official concession holder. The Harbour also called on the Court to order Dock Maarten to remove a constructed stone jetty from its concession area.
 
In July 2007, the Island Territory granted SMH the exclusive right to pursue all harbour activities in Great Bay. According to the Holding, this entailed that Dock Maarten was acting in violation of the concession, as it had been filling in water parcels and was building a stone jetty.
The harbour concession, which was granted to SMH for a period of 30 years, comprises Great Bay and Cole Bay and concerns all harbour activities.
 
In Friday’s ruling, the Joint Court established that parties are not contesting that Dock Maarten was exploiting a marina for quite some time before SMH Holding obtained a concession for the Great Bay area, and that this privately-owned marina does not fall under the concession.
It was also agreed between parties that Dock Maarten had obtained long-lease rights for four water parcels within the concession area and that construction of the stone pier started in this area.
 
Contrary to the lesser court, the Appeals Court did not find the fact that Dock Maarten had obtained a building permit the crucial element in answering the question if it was acting unlawfully with regard to SMH Holding.
 
In order to answer this question the Court deemed it important to establish how the long-lease rights obtained by Dock Maarten compare with SMH’s rights under the concession and whether the water parcels under long-lease, on which the pier is being constructed, fall under the concession or under Dock Maarten’s harbour facilities, which are outside of the concession.
 
The Joint Court said answering this question required additional investigations, in or outside the courts, which should also include Country St. Maarten as the party which grants concessions and long-leases. In stating this, the Joint Court decided to uphold the verdict of December 2014.
 
The Daily Herald
 
In this case the St. Maarten Harbour Holding Company was represented by attorney Marcha Woudstra of HBN Law. Attorney Richard Gibson Jr. of Gibson & Associates acted on behalf of VROMI. Roeland Zwanikken of BZSEAttorneys at Law represented Dock Maarten.

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