Consultation For America’s Cup Event Plans
“The community is being engaged in the development of the Master Plan for the America’s Cup Event through a series of meetings with key stakeholders and the general public,” the ACBDA said today.
“Beginning in December 2015, Bermuda Environmental Consulting, Ltd. [BEC Ltd.], acting on behalf of the ACBDA, embarked on the consultation portion of the Environmental Impact Assessment [EIA] for the project,” the ACBDA said.
“The groups consulted include government departments, key service providers, NGO’s and affected private sector entities. The feedback from these meetings will be used to define the scope of issues to be investigated during the EIA.
“To ensure broad participation in the identification of constraints and opportunities there will also be two public meetings held on January 26th in the City of Hamilton and on January 27th in Dockyard. Formal public notices for these meetings will be published on January 19th – 21st, 2016
“An AC35 Master Plan showing the range and locations of uses and structures for the Event has been prepared and will be the primary document for which consultation feedback is sought.
“To date BEC Ltd. have met with representatives of most of the affected government departments, along with key service providers and environmental NGOs. As this process continues the feedback gathered in those meetings, and the upcoming public meetings, will be drafted for review by participants and ultimately form part of the formal consultation record.”
Jack Ward, president of BEC Ltd, said: “This is a two stage process with these consultations informing stage one – defining the scope of studies required for impact assessments. It also helps identify all operational plans and infrastructure upgrades that may be required for successful delivery of the project.
“Broad consultation is critical to ensuring that we successfully mine the collective knowledge of the community and harness this to resolve issues. This helps ensure that the studies conducted in phase two satisfy critical information gaps so that the project can be effectively assessed.”
Mike Winfield, CEO of the ACBDA, the entity responsible for delivering Bermuda’s commitments in hosting the 35th America’s Cup in 2017, says that finalising the AC35 Master Plan will be a critical milestone and he looks forward to receiving feedback on the plans.
“We are very much in the draft stages right now. This is a collaborative and iterative process and the plans will evolve as we move through it, resulting in a final Master Plan which will be the subject of a planning application,” Mr Winfield said.
“A tremendous amount of ground has been covered and I would like to thank the ACBDA team, consultants and participants in this process for their efforts to date. That said we are on a tight timeline and there is still much work to be done. “
Mr Winfield also pointed out that this plan refers to uses for the America’s Cup Event and not the end-use of the South Basin land reclamation site after the America’s Cup, saying, “Bermuda has been tasked with delivering a flat surface on which the America’s Cup Event Authority [ACEA] and AC Teams can build their bases and the Event Village.”
After the event that infrastructure is likely to go, as the ACEA will be responsible for removing the buildings from the site.
“From the very beginning we have been sure to guard against being left with unwanted infrastructure so that this space can best serve Bermuda beyond 2017,” added Mr Winfield.
The EIA documents for the America’s Cup Event Master Plan will be available at www.acbda.bm from January 18, 2016 onwards. The public can also contact BEC Ltd. at 400-5990 ext. 22 or 23 further information or to submit feedback on the EIA documents.
We just want to see the figures to see if we bring in more then $77 Million of profit.
What’s $77 million profit got to do with anything?
Did the Grand Atlamtic make a profit?
Should have been called Grand Titanic!
Oh, really!! This ridiculous government MUST focus first on its youth. oba/UBP want to change the public school system AGAIN! Allow the public school students to get their education without political disruptions. Looks like what oba/UBP propose will affect hundreds, if not thousands of students.
The bulk of the monies to be pumped into AMERICA CUP, along with Grant Gibbons favouring the AMERICA CUP OVER public school students DOES speak volumes about his thoughts about public students. AMERICA CUP FIRST, public school students being disrupted LAST!!
The irony here is deep. Knee deep.
@ have some backbone….
Please tell me why private schools in Bermuda consistently outperform govt schools and at a lower cost per head?
Is there a likelihood that if the Oracle team win they may elect to hold the event over again in Bermuda? Or perhaps even one of the other teams.
I’ve heard from some of the wives of Oracle team members that they secretly hope that they don’t win because they don’t want to live in Bermuda for the next 6 years. Not everyone on the crew is making mega bucks and Bermuda is too expensive for them to live (private school, groceries etc). Probably the same feeling many of the wives of reinsurance workers feel, but at least they get paid well.