NEPA has approved the LOJ Development at 23 – 25 Seymour Avenue. At least that’s the word from LOJ President Richard Byles in an informal rap session on Wednesday February 27, 2008 with the Trafalgar Council and the Member of Parliament, Mrs Maxine Henry-Wilson. However if the word of Town Clerk, Lincoln Evans is accepted, this approval occurred even before the KSAC (local authority) received the requisite application from the developer. In fact, the approval has been granted without even signage posted to indicate the nature of the project, much less even an attempt to advise and solicit the views of the residents in the immediate footprint of the project. This lack of dialogue with even the residents in the immediate footprint of the project would also imply that the requisite modification and / or discharge of the restrictive covenants have not been effected because that would necessitate the involvement of the affected parties. Subdivision approval would have also been granted, but again with no reference to the citizenry.
According to the developers, the multi-billion dollar upscale development designed by Martin Lyn and Associates, will boast 23 townhouses and 32 apartments over 4.3 acres of land and is slated to be constructed over a 20 month period. This development, the largest in the Golden Triangle, which is fronted on the northern side by Seymour Avenue and its southern side by Upper Montrose Road, is likely to fundamentally alter the skyline of the community as it boasts 4 blocks of 4-storey apartments. Further, LOJ advised that it will be “putting up” $40 million for the National Water Commission to lay sewage mains down Seymour Avenue and then along Fairway Avenue to be attached to the sewer mains at Lady Musgrave Road. However, this would facilitate the higher density ratios proposed by NEPA in August 2006, whereby the State Agency suggested that where a central sewer line has been laid the density should be increased to 50 habitable rooms per acre. The fact that this was rejected by the citizenry as at the NEPA Public Meeting on August 21, 2006 does not seem to deter the state agency and has set the stage for litigation.
However much to the chagrin of the Trafalgar Council and MP, there will be no new water mains laid and no plans to do so in the immediate future and therefore the supply of water to the existing residencies will be considerably depleted. For its part the KSAC has advised that pictures of the roadways will be taken before construction commences and the developers will be required to return the roadways to that condition at the end ogf the construction period.
This is yet another example of the impunity with which NEPA continues to treat the citizens of Jamaica says Joseph Cox, Convenor of the Trafalgar Council. “How many more communities are to be destroyed by this cavalier approach to development” questions Cox, citing NEPA’s checkered track record relating to the current controversy in Ramble, Hanover and their 2005 legal entanglements with the Northern Jamaica Conservation Association and the Jamaica Environmental Trust relating to their unlawful behaviour. Interestingly, in that matter Justice Bryan Sykes noted that NEPA / NRCA had breached “their own and the legal standards of consultation, including failure to consult with relevant government agencies.
According to the developers, the multi-billion dollar upscale development designed by Martin Lyn and Associates, will boast 23 townhouses and 32 apartments over 4.3 acres of land and is slated to be constructed over a 20 month period. This development, the largest in the Golden Triangle, which is fronted on the northern side by Seymour Avenue and its southern side by Upper Montrose Road, is likely to fundamentally alter the skyline of the community as it boasts 4 blocks of 4-storey apartments. Further, LOJ advised that it will be “putting up” $40 million for the National Water Commission to lay sewage mains down Seymour Avenue and then along Fairway Avenue to be attached to the sewer mains at Lady Musgrave Road. However, this would facilitate the higher density ratios proposed by NEPA in August 2006, whereby the State Agency suggested that where a central sewer line has been laid the density should be increased to 50 habitable rooms per acre. The fact that this was rejected by the citizenry as at the NEPA Public Meeting on August 21, 2006 does not seem to deter the state agency and has set the stage for litigation.
However much to the chagrin of the Trafalgar Council and MP, there will be no new water mains laid and no plans to do so in the immediate future and therefore the supply of water to the existing residencies will be considerably depleted. For its part the KSAC has advised that pictures of the roadways will be taken before construction commences and the developers will be required to return the roadways to that condition at the end ogf the construction period.
This is yet another example of the impunity with which NEPA continues to treat the citizens of Jamaica says Joseph Cox, Convenor of the Trafalgar Council. “How many more communities are to be destroyed by this cavalier approach to development” questions Cox, citing NEPA’s checkered track record relating to the current controversy in Ramble, Hanover and their 2005 legal entanglements with the Northern Jamaica Conservation Association and the Jamaica Environmental Trust relating to their unlawful behaviour. Interestingly, in that matter Justice Bryan Sykes noted that NEPA / NRCA had breached “their own and the legal standards of consultation, including failure to consult with relevant government agencies.
This points to NEPA’s protracted but casual relationship with the laws and makes even more frightening the notion being promoted by Prime Minister Golding of a “one-stop” agency to treat with building approvals and even moreso his stated intent to change the regulations so that if a developer does not receive a response to its application within a 90-day period, such developer should treat the application as being approved and commence development. With NEPA’s track record, if unchecked, Jamaica’s development will continue to devolve into a series of concrete jungles transforming formerly picturesque communities into urban ghettos without the requisite infrastructure to facilitate their sustainability.
Update: A small sign has now been affixed to the perimeter wall on the premises advising of an intent to apply for permission for development
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