TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Roxxy Beach on Kim Sha

LINK from Daily Herald

There goes the neighborhood!

Is the between Royal Palm and Buccaneer? I imagine if this comes about it will contribute to an already heavy traffic situation in the area.

Pretty busy right now .

The first thing I thought, when I saw "Le Sand" is that it was going to be loud, late at night. Pretty amusing, they promise to close down by 1 AM, in order to not upset the neighbors. I pity anyone staying at Royal Palm or Atrium.......

I have mixed feelings. I like more things to do and the close proximity to my resort, Flamingo, but am concerned that this will be another cruise passenger destination causing a traffic nightmare. Maho is bad enough as it is and I can see the same for Kim Sha.

I'm kind of confused as to where this actually is, in relation to what's there now, as there's not really an open space of beach like that. I wonder if it is where they have the kiosks for the cruise pax now.

I think possibly, or very close. There is always the possibility of hauling in more sand to create a beach.

Create more beach where??? You can't create room on the ocean if there isn't any..

Isn't there some space between the new kiosks and Royal Palm?

Some of the area between Royal Palm and Buccaneer had some brush and stuff. The beach at Royal Palm was somewhat created/changed with the hauling in of the big boulders.

Remember the old waterfront/beach in Philipsburg? There was a lot of sand hauled there to create that beach that people know today. Pretty sure it came when they dredged the harbour for the new cruise pier.

And at the fear of really dating myself, I remember when the salespeople were promoting timeshare sales at the ‘Pelican’ and it’s future properties through the promise of building a beach there at some point in the future. And then I remember when they actually built it and all the problems they incurred in holding it in place.

And on another note, until the traffic problems are resolved throughout the island, but particularly in that area, IMHO, there shouldn’t be anymore big draw venues created but that’s purely a personal opinion. I can’t help but think about all the times we’ve left the Maho area and sat in barely crawling bumper to bumper traffic all the way to the round-about heading up the hill to Philipsburg or to the French side. “Or have those problems all been resolved since we were last there a year ago?” she says with tongue firmly planted in cheek.....

Remember when La Bomba (sp) was there and it closed at about 2:00 AM. Trying to get to sleep at the Atrium was a real problem. I am sure it will not be as bad as La Bomba.

Ah, silly Pat!! This is SXM!! We all know that if there is money in it for someone, they will approve whatever they want.. Traffic issues, noise issues, don't matter..

You took the words right out of my mouth!!

It applies here in Florida too. In the last 7 years the commissioners here in Sarasota county have approved so many new housing units off the 2 most heavily traveled roads off I-75 (Fruitville Road and Bee Ridge Road). These housing units are mainly apartments so the density is very high. There has been no infrastructure improvements for the last 20 years so what used to take 15 minutes is now a 40 minute commute. Commissioners approve stuff only because there is money in someone's pocket and the commission looks only at the increase to the tax base without considering the associated costs. It seems like this mentality is rampant everywhere

My take is the developer has a plan and an investor ready to spend now. The french side planning regs are not final, not sure he can get space on Orient and maybe found La Sand location not perfect.
So he is developing where he can now with the investment $'s ready to spend. If he waits,maybe he loses his investor?
I take this as a partial comment on the Fr side vs Dutch side current status of recovery as much as anything else.

J&B

According to that story, I think it's not approved to re-build in Nettle Bay yet, or the owner doesn't know what he wants to do with the property. As I have said several times before, French side regulations are preventing the French side from recovering, as even people with the money to rebuild cannot because they don't even have their building codes in force yet. How can they STILL not have the codes in place, now EIGHT months after the hurricane?? Dutch side has ZERO regulations and French side has way too many, that are preventing recovery.

Any Dutch-side regulations seem to be ignored or taken care of with the proper palm greasing.

Good one Rural. Sad but probably true.

I will be the outlier here and subject to flaming BUT this beach is totally underused. From BBB to Royal Palm there is just about zip...SO a new entity might not be a bad thing.

Will traffic suck?...Yup...but it sucks now, I don't think you can limit development because of potential traffic issues....The Island NEEDS places to go....

Full disclosure: I stay at SBR so I can walk to the area....with Lee's gone we need more potential places to frequent

JMHO....

Actually you CAN limit development because of traffic issues, it's done all the time, when you have responsible government officials. You can make potential developers pay part of the cost to improve roads, etc. But that will never happen in SXM. As I said, my biggest concern would be late night noise, with traffic a secondary concern. And I hope their plans include LOTS of parking..

Parking, a mere afterthought. With the highly reliable bus and public transportation system, who needs a car?

"I don't think you can limit development because of potential traffic issues."
Wrong. City planners in most all cities do this all the time. They are expected to do this for the residents they answer to.

Need places to go? The island was over developed before the hurricane. This will cause more traffic, more noise, and for what?? This Island needs to rebuild what was damaged, and some will not. So??? What they need is another structure where there was some peace and quiet? Nope... Sadly this takes more away from the natural beauty of the Island. Which by the way!! Is way tourists went to begin with many years ago... Take away the views , take away the space, and take away more of St.M. I hate posting here as I know that saying anything negative is and will be prosecuted. Ok so waiting for rural carrier...

I own timeshare at the Atrium, but the noise never bothers me as I never go to bed until 2:00 AM. I am probably in the minority here, but I rather like the idea of something upscale in that area. It looks like an interesting concept and will be good for attracting more business to the Dutch side. I agree traffic could be a problem, but a lot of people living in that area could actually walk to that restaurant. It is difficult to assess the situation until this project is actually completed.

No need to wait for Ruralcarrier. I'll jump on this. There are places that will never come back to reopen. This stretch of beach which is proposed was seldom used for anything. Good to a have quality development happening as long as the impact of increased traffic and noise is controlled to replace what's missing on the island. French side isn't doing much to promote businesses.

Well, it's used as a beach by many. Not so any more, except for tourists.

From the picture I am completely confused as to where this will be. Given that the concept shot has the open water and a rock/island behind it, makes it appear on the lagoon side? But that cannot be as there wouldn't be sand?

Remember, you are likely looking at an artist's rendering and it is not a good representation of what the view would be.

And who in their right mind would want to swim in the Lagoon?

Carol.....my bet is that it won't be that much noise at night for too long. As most of the beach bars experience....Since it is a beach bar primarily, by late night the staff, management and ownership want to and need to get some sleep...and thus the LATE NIGHT hours will be null and void. i hope.

On the beach between Royal Palm and where La Bamba used to be I believe.

Thanks, that is what I thought but not 100% sure. Lots of real estate there.

Correct. Article said Kim Sha Beach and that is the beach.Decent size and really is only beach developed at the Atrium/BBB end. There is a a watersports rental building after that. There are street side businesses..

Significantly increased parking is a definite necessity otherwise it will be pointless to attract more visitors to this area.

RE: traffic. I guess you could drastically decrease it by not rebuilding anywhere after Irma and thus decreasing the number of return visitors...BUT...the Island economy, that we all seem to care about, needs visitors in order to exist. There are MANY alternative Carribbean Islands and beaches to visit and SXM needs to have something to make visitors want to return.

I am just winding down a 3 month stay in SW Florida with beautiful beaches, great waterfront restaurants and...traffic. Area economy is up as is the traffic but traffic is not my #1 concern when I travel...crime is MY #1. Traffic is a mental pain but an assault is physical. I need a place I FEEL safe

Re: noise late at night. Easily controlled by limiting hours and decibles BUT this WILL be an issue 'cuz nothing will be done to control it. .

Ed--Sorry, that's not really the way it works. If the OWNER wants it open late at night, with LOUD music, it will be. And officials will do nothing about it, despite complaints from people in the area. People complained about LaBamba for YEARS.

Yes, that's why you have employees work in SHIFTS. A day crew and a night crew. As much as I like Rainbow, they are a PITA with their late night parties.

We too are confused by that rendering.
If the chaises and pavilion are facing the waters off Kim Sha, then that body of water behind would be the lagoon.
But the lagoon is not open sea as the rendering shows.
We lived at the Yacht Club and we can see the barrel tile roof in the drawing. Makes no sense.
Truly bad drawing.
irina

It's just an artist rendering probably on a stock picture that is not the actual beach or proximity of the proposed development.