Kenneth Thomson•8 months ago I support a conservation‑first Southlands. The site’s statutory status as a Class B – Amenity Park requires “a minimum of commercial activity,” and the Bermuda Plan 2018 (PAR 4) makes clear that any development in a Park zone must be essential to the park’s maintenance, conservation, enhancement, or enjoyment. Those are the bars we must meet.The draft plan contains important strengths: a ten‑year restoration program with invasive culling and native replanting; a Curator and horticulture staffing; and a phased capital strategy that prioritises safety, trail/erosion work, interpretation, and re‑use of existing buildings. These elements square with Class B intent and should proceed.My objections arise where the plan (and related parallel applications) drift into facility‑led commercialization:
Café and parking on the shore side (south of South Road). The draft assigns a café, restrooms and a parking lot to the beach section, and proposes a “Public Transport Hub and Parking Area” on the southern parcel “with a pick up and drop off area for minibuses and taxis, such as that found at Horseshoe Bay Beach.” This imports the Horseshoe operating model into Southlands and runs counter to the “minimum commercial activity” requirement. The café—if pursued—belongs in the forest side among the buildings slated for adaptive reuse, not on the shoreline.
Scale of associated parking. The current planning proposals tied to Southlands specify ~51 car bays, 76 cycle spaces, and nine minibus/taxi drop‑off bays, plus a large café building (~5,200 sq ft / ~120 seats). That is out of scale for a Class B park and would make Southlands one of the most intensely vehicular parkheads in Bermuda.
Event lawn. The plan’s “Manicured Open Lawn” for weddings/corporate functions invites recurring amplified events and logistics traffic in the park’s heart. The “special event” framing reads at odds with Class B’s minimum‑commercial standard and with PAR 4’s essentiality test.
We should also learn from recent process history. The events lawn + parking proposal was rejected by the DAB; subsequently approved on appeal; and then withdrawn by Government following a judicial review filing that argued the National Parks Act process had not been properly followed when the National Parks Commission was not in place. That sequence is a warning about doing too much, too fast, and too loosely in a national park.And Horseshoe Bay is not the model to copy. Over the past seasons, Government has publicly acknowledged lifeguard shortages/reduced coverage, and the concession has drawn sustained criticism (chair grids occupying prime sand, questions about service and promised upgrades). Southlands should not be engineered to reproduce those resident‑unfriendly dynamics.Finally, safety: Southlands is not a benign swimming cove; South Shore conditions regularly feature hazardous rips, and environmental submissions flag submerged rock hazards at Southlands itself. Building a large hub that channels more novice bathers to this shoreline without robust, permanent safety resourcing is a foreseeable risk.In summary—support: shoreline access repair and erosion control; building restoration/reuse; a small café relocated to the forest side; long‑lease PPPs limited to financing restoration; invasive removal and native replanting; low‑impact experiences (e.g., zip‑line and dog park) only if reversible and light‑touch. Oppose: a Horseshoe‑style bus/parking hub on the shore side; the large café footprint at the beach; and the event lawn concept. Keep Southlands a restored natural park, not a transport node with a banquet green. Kenny ThomsonWarwick
