Developer Gilbert Lopes has shot down accusations by BEST that the Grand Atlantic site is being used as a staging ground for his construction projects elsewhere.Environmentalist Stuart Hayward said area residents have complained about dust, huge fires and constant truck activity at the South Shore property in recent months.Mr Lopes suggested concerned residents should have called him rather than BEST and said all operations were conducted safely and with consideration for neighbours.“BEST has been hearing for months now from neighbours of the Grand Atlantic development that the site is being used by the developer as a staging and processing area for jobs he is doing elsewhere,” said Mr Hayward, head of Bermuda Environmental and Sustainability Taskforce.“In addition to the eyesore of the condos, the operations at the site have become a nuisance.“Back in December, neighbours captured a photo of one of the screening machines which they said were working from 8am until dark, creating dust that spread over the neighbourhood.“Neighbours contend that the developer has a huge fire approximately every two weeks. For example in January, neighbours took photos on two consecutive days of open burning of waste on the site generating a plume of black smoke.“On these two days most of the smoke was blown out to sea, but that’s not always the case and residents are concerned that the soot on their roofs is unhealthy.”He continued: “BEST understands it is highly doubtful that the fires at the Grand Atlantic site were done with the requisite permissions. We have recommended to nearby residents that they should contact the Government Department of Environmental Protection immediately when fires are started to verify if the site is permitted to be burning — and at no time should anything other than horticultural waste be burned in such an open fire.”Trucking of “construction soil” is also a problem for area residents, Mr Hayward stated.“Residents believe the Department of Planning had instructed developer Mr Gilbert Lopes to get rid of the piles of rubble on the site. They expressed surprise and dismay to see trucks bringing in more. The trucks, identified as GL Construction vehicles, have been delivering material all week — possibly from other contractors’ job sites.”Mr Hayward continued: “It is bad enough that the neighbourhood has been hurt by the ill-conceived condo development. It adds insult to injury that what appears to be a construction-processing outfit is now operating in the midst of their residential neighbourhood. The residents have suffered from a series of violations at the site and are now calling for stricter enforcement of the Planning laws and regulations. BEST supports that call.”He called on Government to “resist any pressure for further development”.Mr Lopes questioned why area residents would call BEST and not him. “I’m the one who could actually do something about it.“If any tanks have been contaminated I have offered to clean and refill them. I have yet to hear from a single resident,” he said.And he was adamant that “the large pile of horticultural waste is only burned when the wind is blowing in the right direction”.“There was a fire about two weeks ago, and as requested by the authorities we had a water truck on site just in case it got out of hand, the wind blew the smoke out to sea,” he said.He admitted there was “dust flying around from time to time”, but he said it was a direct result of Planning Department requirements.“We’re required to support the sea cliff with a seawall and 50 percent of the work is done. We’re not making dust to aggravate anyone,” said Mr Lopes.He noted that he has talked to residents at Whale Watch and the owner of Brenda’s Cafe, but to date, he said, he has heard nothing of Mr Hayward’s complaints.“Instead of going to him they should contact me directly, I would have thought Mr Hayward would do the same.”BEST has also called for the project to be scrapped but Mr Lopes said he plans to press on with his development plans.“As soon as the House of Assembly gets through the budget, we plan to apply for the SDO granted to be revised,” said Mr Lopes.“There’s no real one-bedroom units for sale in Bermuda and I plan to build 50 of them and then another 28 fractional units.”He noted that the search for investors to finance the building of a 120-room hotel continues and he scoffed at concerns that it will never come to fruition.