There’s something about flying at 40,000 feet that makes me feel like putting my thoughts on paper. Maybe it’s the thin air, or perhaps it’s just the looming fear of plummeting from the sky that turns reflection into a priority. Whatever it is, I find myself once again, mid-flight, writing what can only be described as an absurdly long update on our ongoing saga at Spirit Mountain.
Our family’s journey to develop ‘Estancia Natura’, a lifestyle hotel and eco-friendly real estate project on our coffee farm, took on new life, four years ago during the middle of the pandemic. Little did we know that the permitting process would turn into the star of our story — or better yet, a circus, complete with tightrope acts and jugglers tossing paperwork into the bureaucratic void.
We started optimistically. After all, how hard could it be? We had done our homework, hired a top-notch environmental firm, and spent years crafting an air-tight technical study of our property, ensuring we exceeded all environmental standards. Three years later, in August 2023, after countless public hearings, mountains of paperwork, and a community-wide exercise in patience, we finally received approval from the Dominican Republic’s Ministry of Environment. ‘Phew’, we thought, “time to break ground!”
But then came the local permit.
Naively, I thought the local permit approval from the ‘Regidores’ — local officials — would be a formality, a mere rubber stamp after all the work we had done at the national level. After all, we’re talking about a project where we’ve reserved 85% of the land for green spaces, even though the requirement is a mere 5%. Overachievers? Maybe. But surely, that would earn us a quick pass, right?
Wrong.
A month passed. Nothing. More months passed. ‘Nada’. By the time fall turned into winter, then into spring, and then into the summer of 2024, I was starting to wonder if I had fallen into a bureaucratic black hole. Calls and emails were met with silence, and despite knowing the Director of Urban Planning personally for over 20 years — he even worked for me at one point! — I still couldn’t get a straight answer.
And then came the kicker: the local ‘Regidores’, a group of fresh-faced politicians with no memory of our family’s long history in the region, voted ‘against’ the project. Publicly. After we had hosted meetings, we answered every conceivable question, and packed town halls with supporters. I was floored. No explanation was given, no legal recourse offered, just a solid “no,” as if our almost 30 years of work in the community and contributions to local infrastructure counted for nothing.
It gets better. Apparently, it wasn’t about the technical merits of the project. No, we were subtly offered a “path forward,” a ‘path’ that veered uncomfortably into the realm of “you scratch my back, and I’ll approve your permit.” As someone whose patience is already stretched thin and who has zero tolerance for unethical shenanigans, this was the final straw.
Enter the new mayor of Manabao. Like a knight in shining armor (or perhaps just someone with a functioning moral compass), he has decided to bypass the obstructionist ‘Regidores’ and work with the technical recommendation of the new Director of Urban Planning of Jarabacoa to approve Estancia Natura via an administrative process. Legal, ethical, and finally, some progress!
So where do we stand today? With the new leadership in Manabao and Jarabacoa rallying behind us, we’re hopeful that we’ll soon break ground on this ambitious project that’s set to spark economic development in the region. We’re grateful to the local community and leadership for standing with us through this seemingly endless permitting process. And for those of you following the drama, stay tuned — the circus may be over, but the main event is just beginning.
Until then, this coffee farmer will keep juggling the next round of bureaucratic hoops — hopefully with fewer clowns.
Un Fuerte Abrazo,
Chad Wallace
Chief Bean Counter
CEO and Founder – Estancia Natura at Spirit Mountain
