Yntegra used job sign-up sheet to fake community support for project, witness testifies

A document Yntegra submitted to planning officials as proof that Black Point and Staniel Cay residents backed its Sampson Cay development was, in fact, a sign-up sheet for jobs according to a long-time Black Point resident, who testified that the people on the list - more than 70 in total - were never asked if they supported the project. 

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Frederick “Smiley” Ferguson told the Subdivision and Development Appeal Board (SDAB) that the document originally circulated by Yntegra as a sign-up sheet for masonry and cooking jobs was later paired with the project's environmental impact assessment and presented as evidence that Black Point and Staniel Cay residents supported the development.

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“That was a total lie,” Ferguson told the board. “The very document they used to start their process is flawed. So in my mind, it's always been flawed.”

Of Yntegra, he said: “They lied. They're not to be trusted. Not to be trusted at all, sir.”

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Ferguson was appearing on September 17 in the appeal brought by neighbours Turtlegrass and Over Yonder Cay against a site plan approval granted to Yntegra, which the appellants argue followed an improper consultation process. 

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Ferguson, who has lived in Black Point for 16 years, also criticised the Town Planning Committee’s consultation meetings in Black Point and Georgetown, Exuma, said he was cut off while speaking by a TPC official at the first meeting, and didn’t think there was any point in trying to contribute at the second. 

By his count, roughly six residents from Black Point Cay were allowed to speak in Georgetown, against nine attendees from the mainland. 

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“Black Point has 200-and-something people, maybe. The mainland has maybe 5,000 people,” he said. “So of course they're gonna outvote us on a project like that.” 

On the environmental risks of the Yntegra project, Ferguson, who studied biology and chemistry at the College of the Bahamas, said the North Bay area includes protected turtle nesting sites, a seabird colony and bonefish flats exposed at low tide. 

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He warned that dredging a channel into the site would make it an easy route for ships “using heavy oil”, leaving tar balls on the beaches and driving away nesting turtles and seabirds. He also raised concerns about Yntegra’s sewage capacity, saying a development of roughly 500 people on 144 acres would add nitrogen pollution to the water.

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Ferguson said the project has split the Black Point community, with some residents supporting Yntegra over promised jobs even as they oppose the dredging itself. 

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He also questioned Yntegra's track record, pointing to a previously announced $500 million development at Cave Cay that he said never got off the ground - a line of testimony opposing counsel objected to as irrelevant, though attorneys for Turtlegrass argued that according to the Planning and Subdivision Act, the Town Planning Committee should have considered the developer's capacity before granting approval. 

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Ferguson further said standard know-your-customer background checks on Yntegra should have been conducted.

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Lawyers for Yntegra objected to Ferguson's testimony being called at all, saying they had received no notice of him as a witness and calling his evidence an “ambush of the worst kind”.

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