Environment Minister Walter Roban’s decision to table the Special Development Order for Tucker’s Point for parliamentary debate is a praiseworthy decision which will help to prevent the recent abuse of SDOs.His decision to pass legislation that will require future SDOs to be approved by Parliament, as opposed to by Ministerial discretion, is an important and fundamental assertion of the rights of Parliament. Mr Roban deserves credit for this too.Passage through Parliament by the Government is not assured. The Southlands development might well have been rejected by Parliament had this procedure been in place. It is not at all certain that Tucker’s Point will be supported by the House either, although in this case, it could still be approved by the Minister since the proposed legislation is not yet in place. Still, it would be a brave Minister, and Cabinet, who would defy the wishes of a majority of MPs.But it is right that the House of Assembly should debate these Orders, and should determine whether they are in the public interest.SDOs are only needed when proposed developments override zonings of land approved by Cabinet and then debated and approved by Parliament as part of the Bermuda Development Plan.There are times when the public interest demands that zonings be waived. As in this case, it might be necessary for a tourism development to proceed, which in turn will provide jobs and incomes for Bermudians. In others, they might be necessary to build critical pieces of infrastructure on which the whole of Bermuda’s wellbeing depends. The land reclamation in Castle Harbour and St David’s which led to the construction of the Airport would have required an SDO had they existed then. Few today would dispute that the right choice was made, even though it was a hard one which caused much suffering and carried a high environmental cost.On Tucker’s Point, the choices are equally difficult. It is no secret that the first major resort to be built in Bermuda in 30 years is in financial difficulty. Its survival and success are important for the tourism industry, not just in terms of jobs, but also as an example to other resort developers that tourism in Bermuda is viable.On the other hand, Tucker’s Point has already been the beneficiary of one SDO which was supposed to put it on a sound financial footing. And the land which it wishes to develop makes up part of a massive piece of open space, which taken with the Mid-Ocean Club, makes up the single largest stretch of open space left in Bermuda. Once built on, those pieces of land being surrendered are gone forever. And a private real estate development cannot justify an SDO.While the development may well enable owners Bermuda Properties Ltd to reduce its debt, and for lender HSBC to recoup some of its loans, neither object is necessarily in the public interest. It might well be better for it to be placed in receivership and sold. A new owner might well be able to turn the business around.The fundamental question is whether the Tucker’s Point business model works. Reducing debt will help the business, but can it be viable as a resort once that is done? The answer to that question is critical and may well determine if this SDO should go ahead.