Executive Council also allocates funding for youth and neighborhood projects, awards a new school transport contract, and advances legal action over alleged use of public land in Grand Case.
MARIGOT:---- Saint-Martin’s Executive Council has approved a financing plan for 111 social rental homes at Chevrise in Cul-de-Sac, a project estimated to cost €23,428,836. The council will seek €1.2 million in state cofinancing through the 2024–2027 Convergence and Transformation Contract. Homes are expected to be delivered in the third quarter of 2029, according to a press release detailing decisions made on September 17.
SEMSAMAR is leading the development, which received social-housing approval in December 2025. Its financing plan combines proposed loans, tax incentives, contributions from the Collectivité and the French state, European funding and SEMSAMAR’s own resources. The council’s decision approves the plan and the request for state funding; it does not mean all financing is secured or that construction is complete.
The housing decision was among 57 deliberations examined at the meeting. The decisions also cover youth grants, programs for priority neighborhoods, construction applications, school transport, the 2027 census and legal proceedings concerning alleged encroachments on public land.
€97,000 approved for youth associations
The council approved € 97,000 for 10 youth associations in 2026. The largest award, €35,000, went to Nature Is The Key, followed by €19,000 for Jeunesse Soualiga and €11,500 for SOS Les Enfants des Iles du Nord. Friendly Upcycling received €7,000; Coffee & Soda Biscuit, Numérique Innovation Sociale St-Martin and ACED received €5,000 each; Happynest SXM received €4,000; Handynamique €3,000; and Compagnons Bâtisseurs €2,500.
The release says 15 associations submitted 27 requests. Two requests from Les Francas were deemed inadmissible because the file was incomplete. Of the 25 complete requests, seven were not funded, and three were redirected to a more appropriate department for consideration. The Collectivité cited reasons for some refusals, including insufficient detail about proposed activities, financing or use of funds, incomplete reporting and missing supporting documents.
Funding targeted at three priority neighborhoods
The council approved a € 370,000 allocation under the 2026 Engagements Quartiers 2030 call for projects. The program covers Sandy Ground, Quartier d’Orléans and Saint-James, the territory’s three designated priority neighborhoods.
Together, those neighborhoods had 10,847 residents in the 2022 census, or 34.4% of Saint-Martin’s population, according to the release. The programme’s priorities include living conditions, employment, parenting, access to rights, education and sport. The decisions include multiyear agreements for projects supporting young people aged 16 to 25, a museum project, and employment preparation in Quartier d’Orléans, as well as annual agreements for job-entry support and prevention and mediation activities.
For the Educational City programme, the council approved €100,000 in Collectivité grants for 28 projects, plus the equivalent of €15,000 in classroom space. The release lists a further €300,000 in state programme funding and €15,000 for an operational project manager. The programme is intended to support the educational and professional prospects of young people from birth to age 25. Twenty-nine proposed projects were not selected.
A smaller Summer Neighborhoods program received €10,000 from the Collectivité, matched by €10,000 from the state. The council selected three of 16 submitted projects for activities aimed primarily at residents of the three priority neighborhoods.
School bus route and building decisions
To maintain school transport on Circuit 11, serving the Oyster Pond–Marigot corridor and the Daniella Jeffry vocational high school, the council awarded a 36-month framework contract with a maximum value of €2.264 million before tax. The contract has no minimum spending commitment; the council will order services as needed.
The council also examined 10 planning applications. Several received what the release calls tacit approvals because the applicable processing deadlines had passed. They included applications concerning properties in Anse Marcel, Oyster Pond, Terres Basses, Grand-Case and Quartier d’Orléans. The council issued unfavorable decisions on two proposed homes—one in Friar’s Bay and one in Quartier d’Orléans—citing applicable natural-risk requirements and, in the latter case, the absence of a required geotechnical feasibility study.
The council decided not to exercise its right of first refusal on 23 notified property transfers. That right allows the Collectivité, in specified zones, to take priority in purchasing property for a public-interest purpose.
Grand Case public-land cases advance
A series of decisions authorizes the Collectivité’s president to pursue or defend proceedings before the Administrative Tribunal concerning alleged public-domain violations involving restaurants and businesses along Boulevard de Grand Case. The cases follow inspections carried out with prefectural services in March 2023.
Businesses named in the release include Java Restaurant, Captain Frenchy, Atlantide, Au Temps des Cerises, Calmos Café, Le Korner, Max’s Place, Quai 58, Rainbow Café and Tropic’s. The council authorized legal representation in the proceedings. These decisions are authorizations to litigate, not court findings that the businesses committed violations.
The council also approved preparations for the 2027 population census, scheduled for January 21 through February 27, 2027, and a three-month work authorization for a specialist engineer involved with Aggreko and EDF equipment at the Marigot power site.
The full range of decisions shows the demands facing the Collectivité at once: expanding the supply of affordable homes, directing resources to neighborhoods and young people, maintaining basic services, and enforcing its planning and public-land rules. For the Chevrise project in particular, the next test will be securing the remaining financing and delivering the promised 111 homes on the stated timetable.
Source: Collectivité de Saint-Martin press release, “Décisions du Conseil exécutif du 17 septembre 2026,” dated September 21, 2026.
