A humble green-and-peach snack shack at John Smith's Bay was ordered closed after being open for years and recently receiving a three-year extension to operate.

Trena Riley, the establishment’s proprietor, said she is now caught in a bureaucratic trap, dealing with various government entities without luck as she tries to keep the business running, at the very least to get it open by Cup Match.

“There always has to be another government department,” she said in an interview recently.

The structure may not exactly meet the letter of the law, but Ms Riley is arguing for the Government to take a big-picture view, for the sake of tourism and for Bermudian entrepreneurs.

She also notes that the authorities seemed perfectly happy with her business for a number of years.

The Department of Parks had three requirements for the concession stand: it must have wheels, it must be enclosed and it must be moved once the tourist season is over.

Ms Riley’s stand was not built on wheels and cannot be moved.

“What wheels could I have put that on — that’s like saying ‘build a house on wheels’. What house can be built on wheels?”

She said she had been able to operate the business, a 15ft-by-10ft wooden structure, since 2019 with permission from the Parks Department. All that time, people from the department only stopped by once to inspect it, she added.

“They never said anything about it,” Ms Riley said, referring to the lack of wheels. “The main requirement was it had to be an enclosure, which I felt like I followed.”

This year, after four summers in operation, her business was granted, along with all other beach and park concessions, a three-year extension by the Minister of Public Works.

“The excitement did not last long, because two or three weeks later, parks called and told me that planning had a problem with the structure,” Ms Riley said, referring to the Department of Planning.

She thought the issue would be the stand not being built on wheels, but after talking to the department, she realised it had a different objection.

She said: “I was informed that one structure can’t sit in a spot for more than 28 days, which does not make sense, because even if it was on wheels, it would not have been able to be moved.”

Ms Riley has not opened the stand since the Department of Planning voiced this concern, and now she feels “stuck” between two government departments.

She said: “That is the complexity of government, tourism wanting a service at the beach, so they talk to parks, who puts it out to tender, and we try our best to see how we can meet that need.”

She believes there is a disconnect between the Government and entrepreneurs and also wonders if Bermuda is really open for business.

“How are we up for business if a girl cannot even open up a business?” she asked. “Turks & Caicos and Jamaica are allowed to operate beach stands, but I can’t even open one.

“When are we going to allow our natural resource to be a tourism attraction?”

A spokesman for the Ministry of Home Affairs confirmed last week that the stand was built without planning permission and, according to the Development and Planning Act 1974, any structure in place for more than 28 days requires department approval.

He said: “While seeking the required planning permission is overdue, the ministry can confirm that a retroactive planning application has been submitted for review and is being assessed.

“This assessment includes the sustainability of the structure’s location next to the beach and its vulnerability to damage from hurricanes and other natural phenomena.”

The Department of Parks declined to comment.

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