Concern over access to the Southlands file at the Department of Planning may have been overstated.

Members of the group Bermuda Environmental and Sustainability Taskforce (BEST) showed up simultaneously to view the file yesterday and were given unfettered access.

Earlier in the week, the group’s chairman Stuart Hayward wrote a letter to Environment Minister Neletha Butterfield raising concerns that not everyone who wanted to view the file would be able to see it because typically only one person is allowed to go over the materials at a time. And copies are prohibited.

Yesterday, however, four members of BEST were allowed to browse the Southlands materials at the same time. And when four more BEST members showed up a Department of Planning employee fetched a second copy of the drawings.

Mr. Hayward was among those inspecting the file.

He said afterward: “The Department of Planning staff are habitually cordial, which is to their credit particularly given the overload of work that is expected of them. My concerns were not that a group could not view. My concern was for the amount of time each viewing would take, whether by groups or by individuals. There is only one file of documents and it is virtually impossible for that file to be viewed by a group.

“More importantly, because the documents can only be viewed in the Planning office and many elements of the application cannot be copied, the information contained in them must either be memorised or copied by hand. I spent almost two hours there today, my second trip to the DOP on this matter, and still wasn’t able to make notes on all the information contained in the files.”

The Southlands proposal has carried high public interest since its plans became known late last year.

Developers want to take the mostly green 37-acre property and transform it into a five-star hotel on a south shore cliff along with a staff dormitory, condominiums and a tunnel that will put part of South Road underground.

Southlands is seeking a special development order (SDO) so that construction on the property can be sped up and exempt from some levels of public comment.

The initial public comment phase expired months ago and many people participated. But some argued the input period wasn’t long enough.

This month the Environment Minister reopened the input period to ensure more people could weigh in with comments before a final decision was made about the SDO.

The new comment phase closes on March 23.

The night before at 6 p.m. BEST will hold a public meeting on Southlands at the West Pembroke Primary School where there will be speeches, objection letter writing, and a video presentation.