Sylvia Cadasse, a resident of Hibiscus Road in Cap Estate, has voiced concerns over the overflow from The BodyHoliday (also known as Le Sport) hotel’s parking lot, which she says has caused ongoing frustration and disruption for her and her neighbors for more than a year.
According to Cadasse, resort staff frequently park along the road leading to her home, reducing the two-way roadway to a single lane.
Pointing to the curved strip of road—where cars lined the right side for nearly half its length at the time of reporting—Cadasse explained, “This is a two-way road, but sometimes they’re parked all the way up here.” She motioned to the full length of the road leading up to the gap into her neighborhood, Hibiscus Road, adding, “Sometimes it’s halfway, but what they have done is virtually made the road into a one-way.” She continued, “It’s dangerous when the cars are parked along the road, but this ought not to happen.
Cadasse suggested that the staff may have little choice but to park on the public road used daily by residents. “What the hotel has done, if you go down a little bit, you see there are some cones on the road to the hotel. It seems like they don’t want the staff to park anywhere along their road,” she said.
What makes the situation especially bothersome, Cadasse says, is the inconvenience of the road now functioning as a single lane. With its length and a curve appearing along the way, she says vehicles frequently end up facing each other head-on in the middle of the road.
“Many people, when the cars are parked—if you meet a car while you’re going down, virtually you lose your right of way because whoever’s coming up has the right. So, what happens sometimes is nobody wants to reverse,” she shared.
Cadasse says the problem is at its worst early in the week, primarily during office hours: “On a Monday and Tuesday, it’s really bad, whether it’s halfway or all the way up here. At night it’s okay, but between 9 and 5, it’s bad. And then that’s the peak time at which trucks and vehicles come from Cap Maison.”
She noted that water and construction trucks heading down the hill often avoid reversing uphill, forcing other drivers to reverse down to make space.
Cadasse told St. Lucia Times that the issue has persisted for over a year, and efforts by her and her neighbours to resolve it and restore the road’s full function have been unsuccessful.
“Last year that was happening, and I spoke to the manager. She said they’d try and do something about it… I spoke to someone in her administrative office last week, and I went to the Gros Islet police. They said they’d send somebody. My neighbor has gone down to the office and complained, and nobody has done anything. It seems they’re not about to do anything, so we’ve got to highlight that,” Cadasse fumed.
Several attempts were made to obtain a response from The BodyHoliday, but they ultimately could not be reached for comment.
Efforts were also made to contact the police for comment and updates on possible solutions to the issue, but these attempts were unsuccessful at the time of publication.
Cadasse expressed frustration on behalf of the residents, stating their hope for action. “What we want is—we don’t want any cars parked along that road. You must make provisions for your staff,” she stressed.
Ms Cadasse seems not to realise the issues her business in Corinthe is having on the flow of traffic on a major road. I want her to state where she provides parking for the customers of Manee’s bakery when they are causing a disruption during peak hours.
Well based on the first comment I’d say Ms Cadasse is in a quandary. Entitled little princess.
Yes I agree the parking on that road is extremely cumbersome and dangerous especially on that corner!,,,,, Le sport needs to create different parking bc obviously it’s effecting residents, locals and visitors who are not accustomed to driving on the other side of the road yh!,,,
In St. Lucia, Hoteliers are treated by the authorities on the same level as God. No one will do anything about it Ms. Cadasse.
What the residents should do is to put their own cones and no parking signs.
As our tourism industry maintains it’s path of steady growth, there will continue to be conflicts as residents are affected.
The Visitor population is already over three times the size of that of the local residents. As the tourism infrastructure continues on its present trend, we can expect conflicts in traffic, utilities, cost of living and general conjestion.
The tourist industry is not an enclave environment with special connections to island services. Issues of planning, capacity and cooperation, will be the only means to co-existance, given our size and economy.
The comment about the bakery although important, is irrelevant to the report about the bad parking at Cap Estate, having driven up there to go to the beach, it is palpably clear that something has to be done to improve the situation. Ms Cadasse is correct.
Louis, this is a separate issue, but you are correct, let’s not just brush aside the concerns of Ms Cadasse, she does have a point, the parking at the place she mentioned is indeed horrendous and can be dangerous, going to the beach there one Sunday I experienced the water truck, the reversing, the double parking, all compounded by having to do it all in the rain! But the point about the bakery is noteworthy, and to this I’ll add two more bakeries where customers create problems for other road users, the bakery at the bottom of the Morne, just after DHL, and the one at Thomazo, at the bottom of the Barre de Lisle. But can the bakery owners really be held accountable for this? The same I guess can be asked of the hotel owners.
Well at least you have a road to go up and down. Gais Bois is impassable for most of it’s length. I share the frustration of trying to contact the authorities. Government ministers and their underlings just ignore our pleas for help. Read the infrastructure mission statement, it’s a good laugh.
Hope that it doesn’t take you 20 plus years to sort out!!
@louis, the one on Micoud Street is a problem too. Lol. Boohoo . Ms Cadasse, stick to the left side, a one way is enough for this lightly traversed road!
@ Louis November 2, 2024 At 1:04 am
Not in my backyard. They are more than happy to cause problems elsewhere, but when it comes to their neighbourhood, all rules are to be followed. DJs and party organisers are the same. They keep people awake all night but you dare do the same to them and it is hell to pay.
There is a culture here in that larger hoteliers feel super entitled and as if they have ultimate authority over our land. The columns at Sandals Grande is a similar case where security guards are placed as if is fort knox . The lady is absolutely correct and has a right to complain. BTW my lady, there is a basic calculation on how many parking spaces a hotel/ apt building MUST have bases on the number of rooms….hint hint…check with the DCA.
The root of the problem stems from the absolute unavailability of PROPER scheduled Public Transport. Successive Governments have continually taken the course of least resistance and NOT addressed this issue AT ALL. Instead they have encouraged and incentivized the flooding of this market with imported USED CARS over the last 30 years and the static infrastructure is simply way past capacity; ignoring the warnings and advice from their partners on the ground. Forcing low wage earners to pour all thier money into the only option for guaranteed transport. The numbers of Hotel staff busses are a fraction of what they were as most staff now drive to work and the Hotels will never carve, out of thier valuable real-estate, additional acreage ‘simply’ for staff parking, unless MANDATED to do so. The Sandals Grande situation is another great example. The road to our National Park has been congested for YEARS by Hotel staff Parking,
a staff waiting room, double parked taxis and staff busses. Recently, they finally created a new Parking in their adjacent property, but last I counted just 8 cars were in there with the remaining majority stubbornly parked on the same public thoroughfare. The truth of the matter is that NOBODY CARES and the powers that be have foolishly allowed hoteliers to have a disproportionate influence on such matters to the extent of which, they can ignore any and all grievances leveled against them, as they KNOW, there will never be any consequences.
I suppose that the ‘size’ of the tourism product ought to be regulated vis-a-vis the size of the population.For example if our population is 130000,then our tourism number should be below that you say,95000
The amount of tourists that are allowed to visit our country,especially stayovers should not be equal to or exceed our island population. Another example to illustrate the point…one should not overeat.We eat just enough to satisfy our hunger,similarly we should not oversell our island
@Louis, I totally agree with you. If it not good for her, it not good for us on the Corinth Road. Now the real problem is that hundreds of cars are being imported here every year and our roads are just what we have. In my area, very often I cannot park by my home because the space is taken up by other vehicles. Sometimes I have to park about a hundred yards from my home. Most times the vehicles park next to my house are not even that of my immediate neighbours. The two-way road is like one-way. But I understand that with the growing number of vehicles on island we will have that issue. What makes those Cap Estate people think that they are more entitled than the rest of us?
Wow. There is parking for persons who purchase stuff from Mannee’s corinth. We the driving public just stop infront of the bakery, purchase our stuff and drive off. There is a space for Manee’s vehicle to park off-road.
I think what Ms Cadasse is speaking about is vehicles that park and remain there all of the working day.
Now calling one an ” Entitled Princess” for pointing out something that can be adressed by the hotel, oh well. Thats why we get nowhere.
If no one is to park to purchase their bread from Mannee’s Corinth, then please make a similar report then the authorities will put whatever necessery road marking in place to curb that. No report no action!!
@Anonymous let me tell you!!! The Bakery at near DHL! SCREAM ALONE I HAVE NOT SCREAMED!! In my opinion these ppl need to do curb side pickup. You call ahead come outside collect the money and deliver the bread in 30 seconds. In the event of an emergency, I don’t see how ppl will maneuver when others are busy collecting their hot bread.
Enough with all those arguments…note that those same individuals pay tax…alot of tax,road tax etc. ….if this road isn’t privately owned and was built by gov’t Mrs.Cadasse should take a back sit and hush…I’m on parr with the first commenter.
The lady has raised a very good point. The culture of our fellow St. Lucians is having the mind set that they can park anywhere as long as it’s a public road. Take a look around most residential areas that now market residential and commercial rental space for example Sans Souci where government workers plagues the front entrances of the the residents daily, 8:00 to 4:30pm. It seems that areas designated for residential purposes are being overwhelmed by individuals who wake up one day and decide to establish a commercial point. What are the laws for such. Are there any Covenants to regulate such practices. Additionally as it relates to traffic what are the laws to protect residential areas. I am really surprised by such developments and failures to address such by the hotel. The Irony seems to be the owner of the hotel Mr. Cr… Ber…. lives in the very same Cap Estate wouldn’t want such type of parking near his home. Another very important point is emergency (Fire and Ambulance) and essential services (Garbage, LUCELEC, Flow etc) vehicles are affected by such. There is a need to educate people on the Traffic Laws for residential areas in reference to the DOs and DON’Ts. I totally understand your point and concern Lady. I do hope that your concern is not only looked at in Cap Estate but every other location where a blind eye is turned by the “Powers that be” . Have Faith.
This is very good thread with a both valid points and some wit thrown in for good measure.
Two main points are
1. Government needs to get a handle on the used car import issue, which while necessary, is equal to political suicide.
The solution being employed by other islands is that all vehicles imported / purchased must be housed in an enclosed garage at night (and now you see the problem).
Thus no garage=no vehicle
2.The DCA is responsible for most of the parking and access issues that we face, either by failure to ensure that businesses /hotels have the necessary parking requirements to suit and the inability to hold those who fail to deliver, accountable.
This being St. Lucia, I expect neither of these issues to be addressed