Op-Ed: Kings Park Residents’ ‘Clarification’ Crumbles Under Scrutiny

The so-called clarification issued by a group of Kings Park residents about the Hangar seafront controversy reads less like a statement of facts and more like a carefully crafted attempt to rewrite the story. On the surface, it paints the residents as responsible homeowners simply trying to “safeguard the coastline”. But behind the polished language and selective omissions lies a troubling effort to justify what was, at its core, an attempt to carve up a public road and convert it into private beachfront property.

Let’s be clear: the land they’re talking about isn’t theirs. It’s national land, public space, that ordinary Belizeans have enjoyed for decades. That stretch of coastline belongs to everyone, not just a few wealthy residents with sea views.

So when these residents claim they merely wanted to “subdivide and acquire” the area “directly in front of their properties”, what they’re really saying is that they wanted to buy up public space – the same public space that has always been part of Belize City’s coastline. And their justification? Safety, noise, criminal activities and coastal erosion. The statement says, “These have included frequent disturbances such as loud music, drug use, public intoxication, littering (including broken bottles and used condoms), blocked driveways, vehicle collisions into residents’ fences, robberies by knife, illegal gun activity and murder.” The Belize Police Department holds weekly briefings, and they have not mentioned the word “Hangar” in any statement. In fact, if you do a search on news websites like 7News and News 5 Live, you’ll see that the last reported incidents were back in 2005. 20 years ago.

If safety and erosion were truly their driving motives, why was the first move not to propose community policing, improved lighting, or joint cleanup efforts with the City Council? Why jump straight to acquiring the land? Why not fund the seawall repairs without owning the land? Nothing in their press release explains why private ownership seems to be the only “solution.”

Then there’s the environmental spin, the talk of “responsibly managing” the area and “investing in reconstruction of the seawall.” It sounds noble until you remember that their application to the Ministry of Natural Resources wasn’t about conservation; it was a subdivision application, a request to break up a public road into five privately held parcels. In fact, on the application, under “Proposal use of land”, they put “private residence.”

The application even listed names and parcel allocations: one for JRD Holdings, one for Louis Leslie, one for Allen McNab, one for Michael Fields, and one for Jules Vasquez of 7News. That’s not “management.” That’s ownership.

Interestingly, 7 News finally ran the “Hanger issue” last night, after the Kings Park Seafront Residents’ statement. The article does not say that Jules Vasquez signed the petition and was one of the residents on the application. It does say “that’s the end of that.” That’s far from it.

And even their claims about flooding deserve scrutiny. If the sea is indeed rising that fast and erosion that severe, why isn’t this being addressed through the Minister of Sustainable Development, Climate Change & Solid Waste Management? Belize gets millions of dollars to address climate change and increase climate resiliency. So why go through the Lands Department to acquire land, rather than to protect it? I think you know the answer.

The Ministry itself confirmed that the application was “instantaneously deemed a nonstarter.” Why? Because you cannot subdivide and sell what doesn’t belong to you. It’s government land, and any such request had no legal basis from the start. Yet the residents’ release conveniently skips over that part, pretending it was a “proposal to help.”