Former mayor reinvents herself as a restaurateur; but is it kosher?

One person who no longer needs to worry about issues at City Hall is former Mayor, Zenaida Moya, who has taken a leave from public life to become, a restaurateur.  While her departure from politics comes after two consecutive terms as head of local government in the Old Capital, her legacy at City Hall is as controversial as an upcoming project that she will be undertaking.  Moya is in the process of building a restaurant at the mouth of the Haulover Creek in the vicinity of the courthouses.  Despite the location being previously used as a terminal by Triple J Water Taxi, members of the judiciary, as well as residents of the area, have voiced concerns about the bottleneck that continues to take place along Southern Foreshore.  They are equally fearful of the clientele that the establishment will attract, since it will be situated immediately across from the Court of Appeal Building.  According to Mayor Darrell Bradley, the Local Building Authority convened a meeting earlier this afternoon to further discuss the matter.

Darrell Bradley, Belize City Mayor

Darrell Bradley

“This was something that was in the pipelines for some time.  As you know there’s a process which involves the Central Building Authority and the Local Building Authority; the Local Building Authority being that entity under the City Council that approves works, like this, going on within the city, and the Central Building Authority had looked at the plans previously.  They had given their tentative approval subject to that structure, fitting in line with the development plans in that area of Belize City.  When the Local Building Authority looked at this, the plans and the projects for this particular developer had all the requisite approvals.  They had already gone to the Ministry of the Environment to get environmental clearance.  Their plans were looked at by the Central Building Authority, Central Government, and the developer had all the approvals and so when it came to the Local Building Authority they were inclined to approve the plan but we had to look whether or not the development project for that area would be in line with this project.  The Local Building Authority is meeting again today and I have been informed that they will look at this particular project and they will just consider some of the written comments that have been raised and they would indicate whether or not the approvals are subject to any conditions or anything like that.”

Isani Cayetano

“What were some of the concerns brought forward, do you know?”

Darrell Bradley

“Well I think the primary concern is just really the area.  Belize City is very dense and we all share the space and so persons had concerns in terms of that being the court area.  Of course any business in that area will have additional congestion, it would attract patrons.  There would be issues in terms of parking, security and those kinds of stuff.  But I think that when the Local Building Authority looks at this all of those concerns could be properly addressed. It’s not an anomaly that a business has been at that exact location.  There was, as you rightly pointed out, a business, albeit a different type of business; that was at that exact same spot.  And so what we are looking at is to see if there is any new plans in the area.  Of course you know that there will be a multimillion dollar project which will go on in that particular area.  The whole area is to be transformed into a pedestrian walk so there will be additional issues in terms of parking, and so as long as the developer fits in line with those development plans I don’t see that there is a problem.”

It would not be the first attempt to erect a building over water to be used for entertainment purposes within the neighborhood.  A similar, but unsuccessful project had been undertaken by former Bellevue owner, businessman Papi Pena, a few years ago.