Environmental campaigners yesterday welcomed several recommendations in the SDO for Southlands which require developers to mitigate the impact of the 497-bed resort.

Details of the SDO for the 37-acre hotel complex on the South Shore were yesterday published in the Official Gazette.

They require developers to "mitigate any adverse impacts" on sea birds and to create artificial longtail nests along the cliffs, among other environmental considerations.

Stuart Hayward, chairman of Bermuda Environmental and Sustainability Taskforce (BEST), last night welcomed the measures but said Government had not taken into account the accumulative impact of the construction of a neighbouring resort when finalising the SDO.

He was referring to the nine-storey, 220-room Grand Atlantic Resort and Residences which was recently also granted an SDO and which will be built 'next door' to Southlands on the former Golden Hind site.

"The Bermuda Environmental and Sustainability Taskforce (BEST) are concerned more about what is omitted by the just-published SDO for Southlands than what it contains," said Mr. Hayward.

"The most serious omission is that of the impact of this development when added to next door Atlantic Ltd. Development.

"The people depend on the Government to consider the combined effects of neighbouring developments.

"It is totally unacceptable for the Government to treat these adjacent developments as though there is no interaction and no combined impacts on the cultural integrity of the neighbourhood.

"The bottom line is that with the issuance of the final SDO, another hotel along with four or five dozen other multi-storey buildings, is going to be built right on the shoreline, right next door to another nine-storey hotel with additional multi-storey buildings. The conditions of the SDO do nothing to avert the loss of 37 acres of greenfield site being developed with concrete and glass, while already-developed brownfield acres around the island sit idle.

"The conditions of the SDO do nothing to soften the impact of two hotel developments, side-by-side, that will add perhaps thousands of new residents to an already congested area; add to traffic congestion; add to housing demands and shortages; swallow up hundreds of yards of beach; and exacerbate already tense social conditions."

He said: "The SDO requires further study and we will have further comment in due course."

Although conditions to minimise the impact of construction traffic are stipulated in the SDO planning requirements for Southlands, the impact of another hotel being built on adjacent land at a similar time is not mentioned.

What the SDO does require developers Southlands Ltd. to do is submit plans and data within six months "as are necessary to examine and assess the potential environmental or other impacts on the matters described below, including the measures to be taken to mitigate any adverse impacts".

They are listed as follows: the habitats of fauna and flight patterns of sea birds; storm waters; multi-storey buildings; arrangements for supply of electricity and water; impact of construction traffic; arrangements for the housing and transportation of construction employees.

The developers must provide detailed research and scientific data on the effect of a hurricane on Jumeirah Southlands.

The information is needed under "storm waters" and includes "an assessment of potential hazards, the impact on coastal erosion and evacuation procedures".

Southlands Ltd. must also construct their multi-storey suites in such a way as to avoid "shading/and or intrusion of privacy" on "neighbouring residential properties".

In addition, the company must submit a "Landscape and Woodland Management Plan" and a foreshore protection scheme — including longtail nests — in liaison with the Department of Conservation Services.

The SDO also appears to prohibit future development of the arable and woodland areas of the estate, by asking the developers to amend a section 34 agreement with Southlands' former owners. Southlands Ltd. must "amend the current agreement with the Trustees of the Willowbank Foundation to restrict or regulate the further development or use of land deemed to be worthy of preservation and protection, including significant areas of woodland and agricultural land".

Yesterday, Environment Minister Neletha Butterfield refused to comment on the conditions of the SDO. Developers Southlands Ltd. also did not reply to The Royal Gazette's requests for comment.

Earlier this week BEST ran a full-page advertisement in The Royal Gazette, which said: "Southlands creates significant precedence for use of public lands by private developers."

In a statement the organisation said: "A development priority, as put forward in the Government's own Sustainable Development Strategy, must be to redevelop derelict tourism properties rather than developing new ones."