The plans that could destroy a mountainside forest
The Dominical Project is a proposed $700 million mega project, planned to be built in and around Dominical. The project is split into two main parcels: Dominical Ridge, a 60 acre forested site on the mountain above Dominical, and Playa Dominical, currently pastured land, south of town.
On Dominical Ridge, the proposal is to build up to 90 luxury housing units, and a high end luxury hotel on the ridge. Looking at their plan, shown below, it’s clear that many trees would have to be cut in order to carry out this construction work. What isn’t as immediately obvious is the amount of destructive reshaping of the mountain that the developers deem necessary. This is the story of how we discovered the extent of the horror that is planned.
At the beginning of the last dry season, approximately two acres of land on the Dominical Ridge property were cleared of undergrowth, many trees cut, and most of the area graded. Several building plantels with reinforcing rock embankments were installed, and a short section of road was constructed. This all took place on the part of the “Dominical Project” property that is currently classified as “mature forest” but is slated to host a super-luxury hotel and somewhere between 30 and 92 luxury houses. This is only a small portion of the property, and the developers clearly are not quite ready to kick the whole project off. That led us to ask why this work had been initiated. We began to investigate.