Opinion: An Open Letter to Stanley Selengut & The Board of Directors of Concordia Eco-Resort

Dear Sir and Members of the Board,
It has been a year and some weeks since two hurricanes devastated our island of St John. While a great deal remains to be done, there has been a massive island wide effort to recover; the vast majority of properties including government, park, commercial and residential have made visible efforts to clean up if not yet fully repair all the damage from the storms.
Unfortunately, this has not been the case with the Concordia Eco-Resort in Coral Bay. Much of the site remains just as it was immediately after the storms. It is incredulous that someone who has been repeatedly honored and lauded as a visionary, an environmentalist  and a leader in “Green” hospitality would build a resort on a Caribbean island , on a hillside overlooking the sea with building materials primarily composed of plywood, canvas and 2x lumber without a contingency fund or at least adequate insurance to cover the inevitable damage from the inevitable storm.
Currently, there are composting holding tanks, pressure treated lumber, galvanized roofing, plastic, metal, tiles and countless other debris scattered throughout the resort area, the surrounding bush and down the hillside toward Salt Pond Beach and the Nanny Point turn around. Besides the obvious environmental issues, there is the threat of that unsecured debris becoming airborne in another storm endangering life and property.
It has been said of Stanley that he is concerned about his legacy. From this writer’s almost daily observations, nothing has been at the resort except for the sale of some salvageable items from the restaurant. This would seem to indicate that despite the public relations and advertising the concern is more for the dollar than for the environment and the island.  A hillside was secured,  “eco” resort was built, money was extracted and an environmental nightmare was left behind.  Not a legacy to be embraced.
Donald Durante
St. John, VI

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