PLAGE DE GRAND CASE
Selon un communiqué de presse de la Collectivité : "Réunie en séance le mardi 3 novembre, la commission d’aménagement et de l’urbanisme a décidé d’interdire l’occupation de la plage de Grand Case par des transats et des parasols. L’avis de la commission sera proposé à validation au conseil exécutif le 17 novembre prochain. Les restaurateurs de la zone seront notifiés par courrier de cette décision."Grand Case beach
According to a press release of the community: " session on Tuesday, 3 November, the planning commission and town planning has decided to ban the occupation of the grand case beach by sun loungers and parasols. The opinion of the commission will be proposed to validation to the executive council on 17 November. The Restorers of the area will be notified by mail of this decision."

what is this saying? That those restaurants like Enfold's, Calmos, Rainbow will no longer be able to put out chairs & umbrellas? Or is there to be a vote on this?

What?? That's crazy..

I hope this doesn't transpire. I really loved Rainbow this last year and am looking forward to going there again for lunch and an afternoon on their beach.

Makes no sense unless it is a way to block any future resort or hotel development. Or retaliation against the protests last month.

DITTO!

Here is the entire document Communique de Presse St Martin

And here is the translation of the most important points

If the status of all beaches of St. Martin was discussed during this workshop, Grand Case bay has been the main focus with a status report highlighting the inappropriate use of the public domain by private parties. The goal: to identify abuse and lead to a strict application of the law regarding the use of public property in the area.

Several points were raised: the issuance of Temporary Occupation Authorization (AOT) on this beach, the practice of water sports in direct airport flight path, the discharge of waste water and cooking oil in the ocean, the proliferation of lounge chairs and parasols on public domain, the construction of decks without prior authorization, the excessive noise and the detention of liquor licenses. The issue of stray animals on the beaches and the lighting of barbecues in inappropriate places, have also been the subject of reflection between the Community services and the Government.

It has been decided:

Meeting in session Tuesday, November 3, 2015, the Planning and Urban Commission decided to prohibit the occupation of the Grand Case Beach by lounge chairs and parasols. The Executive Council is asked to examine and validate this proposal of the Commission during his 17 November session. The businesses of the area will be notified by mail of this decision.
An order prohibiting motorized water sports activities by the beach was signed by the President. Watersports operators will be informed by mail of the regulations. Note that watersports activities are already prohibited in the flight path to Grand Case airport.
Additional signs will be installed by the community near the coast and controls will be operated by the territorial police to enforce the prohibition of stray animals and nudism on beaches in the Community.
Restaurateurs will be notified by mail of the requirement to install grease traps and drain by a circuit nonpolluting cooking fats. Checks will be made by the territorial police so that this directive is respected.
The Territorial Police will conduct regular checks on the bars of Grand Case, to address excessive noise . Liquor license checks will also be carried out by the Police.

A resident posted on another site that this will regulate restaurant/bar operators by making the beach walkable without having to go in the water to get around. In other words, not blocking the beach with beach chairs.

Hopefully, this is another incidence of the meaning being lost in translation and much ado about nothing.

The implementation of grease traps is welcomed by everyone - it can be disgusting at times when the grease runs out onto the beach.

Thank you for the translation. Am I to understand from this that everything other than the ban on lounge chairs and umbrellas on Grand Case beach, has already been decided? There are a bunch of restaurants and small hotels on Grand Case beach that will not be happy, if this goes through.

And is the thing about nudism talking about on Grand Case beach only or in all of French St. Martin?

Not totally blocking the beach with chairs and prohibiting them completely are two very different things. I agree with your hope that something is lost in the translation. Perhaps one of our French-speaking members can read the document in its original language and clarify this for us.

We've never actually spent a beach day on Grand Case, but were looking forward to trying both Rainbow and Captain Frenchy's this trip.

plequerre just did that.

I'm sorry. I didn't look at who had posted that, and assumed (as we all know we should never do) that it was just the typical internet translation.

No problem, the original post here I think was a google deal, but plequerre does speak French.

The resident who posted on another forum speaks French and has spoken with officials there. According to that post, this does NOT ban beach chairs/sun loungers completely. What it does is keep restaurant operators from occupying the entire width of the beach and blocking the path for anyone walking the length of the beach. Apparently, some portions of the beach are so crowded with beach chairs that people walking along the beach have to wade in the water to get past.

Nothing was lost in my translation. <wink> I was born in France and lived there for 37 years prior to moving to the US. By the way, I'm Philippe.

The communique pretty much says what you wrote. It doesn't say, "no umbrellas, no lounge chairs on the beach", it says "no occupation of the beach by lounge chairs and umbrellas" which means, businesses can't use the entire width of the beach and must leave enough room for people to walk along the beach.

Good point. This was a meeting of the Community of Grand Case Urban Commission so they were just talking about nudism on Grand Case beaches .
and not elsewhere.

Thank you, Philippe.

De rien. <you're welcome in French>.

Ok, I have never actually heard anyone advocate nude use of Grand Case beach.

OK, thanks for the further clarification. "occupation" means something different than I thought it meant. Leaving room to be able to walk along the beach seems logical.

Me neither but aren't there other beaches in Grand Case besides the main one?

Advocate - no. But it has never been policed and, with the increasing amount of sunbathers on the beach at GC, nudism is becoming more prevalent. Years ago, when we started going there, we NEVER saw any nude people on Grand Case beach. Over the past few years, every beach walk encounters at least a couple of nudes either sunbathing or strolling.

Happy Bay isn't considered part of Grand Case, is it??

Thank you for the clarification, Philippe. That makes much more sense. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" />

Yep. In French, "occupied" means "not vacant" (for example for a bathroom) or "busy" (for a phone line). In the case of Grand Case beach, this decision prevents businesses from completely blocking the beach which I completely agree with, even if it might impact Calmos where we like to go eat at night.

Yes, I was just thinking about Calmos, they do go basically all the way to the water line.

Hmmm..... you might have a point here. I believe Happy Bay is part of Grand Case, but I'm not 100% sure. This being said, making nudity illegal on Happy Bay would be a bad decision, IMO, even if we don't go there anymore. I think they should go after the "bushwackers" and not the nudists.

Yes but are the tables and benches on the beach all day or just at night? We only go there at night so I don't know.

OK, don't want to create a disturbance, just trying to figure out what that statement was about..