The proposed $1.7 billion redevelopment of the Hamilton waterfront has drawn a lukewarm response from environmental campaign group BEST.And the Bermuda Environmental Sustainability Taskforce has called for an assessment of the plans by “a credible and independent agency” to be conducted before the bulldozers move in.Developers have described the ambitious project, which will take 25 years to complete, as “grand, iconic and comprehensive” and claim it “will be the catalyst for rebranding who we are”.But BEST chairman Stuart Hayward warned that the project will have a major impact on the capital’s coastal landscape and has raised multiple questions that concerned all Bermudians.“We acknowledge the value of innovation and recognise the advantages of multifaceted and big-picture schemes such as this,” Mr Hayward said.“We also realise the enormity of this proposal and its potential to trigger revisions in our views on what we do to our Island and the ways we go about it.Such a project will no doubt move Bermuda’s residents into a new relationship with its government and its entrepreneurs, perhaps an unprecedented relationship in which Bermuda’s public can claim/reclaim aspects of the power that some elected and business leaders have come to think of as theirs alone.”Under the plans — which had been kept under wraps by Corporation of Hamilton officials — the face of the capital will be totally transformed to accommodate a cruise ship terminal, theatre complex and conference centre. The cargo docks will also have to be relocated to make way for a series of jetties that will house office and residential units, while an amphitheatre and casino hotel have also been incorporated into the design.But Mr Hayward said that developers needed to answer concerns over how the rebuild will impact the marine and terrestrial environments, traffic flow, aesthetics and pollution.He also asked for the source of any landfill material and if the filled land would be owned by investors.“This proposal would alter a major segment of the coastline, materially and aesthetically, transforming a significant segment from natural and varied to artificial and sterile. With so many encroachments threatening Bermuda’s coastal landscape — for example the Grand Atlantic development — Bermudians will naturally want to be more engaged when major alterations to the Island’s visage are being proposed.“These and other questions would need to be addressed in an integrated way through a comprehensive Environmental Impact Assessment conducted by a credible and independent agency. Such an assessment should include a robust public consultation component and be done early enough to inform aspects of the design of the site, and the process of implementation.