The administrative court of Saint-Martin was seized in 2019 on four occasions in order to cancel the prefectural decree applying in advance the natural risk prevention plan (PPRN): once by the COM, once by an individual, once by representatives of the Lowlands and once by companies. Even though the applications were filed independently of each other and on different dates, the arguments put forward are along the same lines. The main ones are three.
• There was no rush
"The choice to use this procedure is justified by the urgency of the situation assessed with regard to the annual seasonality of cyclonic phenomena and particularly the risk generated by marine submersion and the mechanical shock of waves", had indicated the prefect in August 2019 to explain the early application of the PPRN. For the applicants, this urgency is not justified.
It is not for the COM because the State services have not taken into account "neither the exceptional character" of Irma, nor "the low probability that a new cyclone presents a comparable power". For the companies Triomphe, Virtus and Salines d'Orient, “there is no urgency” either because the revision project “does not recommend any measure that can be quickly implemented as quickly as possible”. A local resident specifies that "the observation that a meteorological phenomenon recurs every year does not justify characterizing a particular emergency" and that the revised PPRN project "is not sufficiently advanced in terms of knowledge of the hazards and the challenges to be made immediately applicable ”. According to this local resident, "the early application of the PPRN results from a constraint of a political nature arising from the commitments publicly expressed by the President of the Republic".
• Lack of consultation
The COM, the companies Triomphe, Virtus and Salines d'Orient and the companies operating property in Terres Basses-Baie Rouge denounce a lack of consultation. The applicants of Terres Basses indicated that "the State services have not practiced consultation with the technicians of the community, nor with the owners of the housing estates of Terres Basses and Baie Rouge applicants, they have not taking into account the specificity of Saint-Martin ”.
• Lack of data reliability
The COM maintains that “the methodology used has shortcomings, the data available to the State did not allow it to carry out a complete analysis of the various elements to be taken into account. Like the residents of the Terres Basses, the COM points out that Cerema's measurements “have reliability flaws”. The residents indicate that “insufficient and obsolete topographic data” could be used to classify certain plots which were not submerged by the sea.
For residents and companies who have taken legal action, the revision of the PPRN does not aim to protect lives but to "prescribe prohibitive measures" and / or "to prevent the State from paying substantial expropriation compensation. ".
All denounce the lack of "scientific" data. “Ten months after the decree was issued, the administration does not have scientific data such as Lidar data which are necessary, by the admission of the State services, to have precise knowledge of the risk of submersion, ”emphasizes the individual who individually appealed to the court.
Finally, the applicants recall that "if the hurricane was of exceptional intensity, it is more because of the power of its cents than of the submersion of the sea".
(soualigapost.com)
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