Patricia Green | Urban development on a fault line

“...Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall; Humpty Dumpty had a great fall; All the king’s horses and all the king’s men; Couldn’t put Humpty together again...”

As the news unfolded, the Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation (KSAMC) city engineer Xavier Chevannes declared that there are engineering solutions that can be applied to make building on Jack’s Hill safe. However, Simon Mitchell, professor of Sedimentary Geology and Research Director at the Earthquake Unit, weighed in that rocks are going to be messed up in a big fault line, they are going to be broken and shattered.

Speaking with The Gleaner Mitchell elaborated, “...moving from Skyline Drive as far up and across to Stony Hill, there is a zone of deformed rocks ... they are not going to easily take you cutting roads through it or building large high buildings on it ... if you load those slopes, they can fail, and they will fail at depths...”.

Yet the KSAMC revealed that on these slopes are five high-density multi-family developments in various application stages. In this type of geological region, how do the authorities intend to sustain infrastructure for these developments? Land and roads are moving. What is or will happen to sewerage systems for these developments? What explains the broken 10-inch water pipe flooding the hillside as reported in the media? Is there an existing or proposed central sewerage collection system for these developments, which incidentally is a condition precedent for such developments?

Since June 30, 2020, Mitchell is on record in The Gleaner that economic development of Jamaica is extremely important but must be done in the right way and with appropriate regard to damage to the environment and the living conditions of its people. I concur with Mitchell, adding good and effective governance are critically essential.

Kudos over the user-friendly presentation of the April 5 density map of the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) Town and Country Planning (Kingston and St Andrew and the Pedro Cays) Provisional Development Order, 2017 (CONFIRMATION) Notification, 2023. It carries street names within respective Local Planning Areas (LPA) boundaries. Whereas there are extensions to some LPA boundaries and changes of increased densities and heights from what existed in the 2017 Provisional Development Order, the Jack’s Hill density and height appear to be unchanged.

The Jamaica Developers’ Association conducted another webinar on June 22, discussing ‘Restrictive Covenant Modifications’ and ‘Architects Issuing Completion Certificates’. Jack’s Hill citizens, among others, have brought covenant breaches to the attention of the authorities and the media continuously over the years. Various developments in the Kingston and St Andrew Area (KSA) have received judicial rulings over the efficacy of the 2017 Provisional Development Order (PDO) and good governance failures by the authorities. Developments have received stop orders from the KSAMC yet continued to completion.

‘Housing Hazard: NEPA, KSAMC silent on approval processes’, headlines The Gleaner of June 22, reporting the Mines and Geology Division of government on its landslide susceptibility/hazard map showing Jack’s Hill Tavistock zone unsuitable for urban/suburban occupation with engineering construction undesirable.

DEVELOPMENT BREACHES

Sadly, it now appears that the Development Order Confirmation 2023 (DOC) has modified the 2017 PDO seemingly to legitimise development breaches. My March 26, Gleaner commentary, ‘What does KSA confirmed development order entail?’ elaborates further, and may even question whether the DOC now exposes legal, maybe moral issues.

Following the announcement of 250 per cent to 300 per cent politicians’ salary increases, Jamaicans objected. The outcry and continuous lobbying of citizens to roll back those salaries undoubtedly resulted in the Cabinet tabling job descriptions for ‘members of parliament of Jamaica’ also ‘ministers of government’.

Will the citizens permit the apparent legitimisation of approval breaches by government agencies through this new DOC? Considering that the requisite citizen consultation processes legally required under the 1956 Town and Country Planning Act were omitted, will citizens demand that the DOC be rolled back?

As a part of the justification of the high salary increases for the parliamentarians, the prime minister emphasised that the permanent secretary reports to the minister, and is accountable to the minister as elaborated in my Gleaner June 5 article ‘Will parliamentarians’ salary increase boost development projects?’ What therefore becomes the educational qualifications for such ministers to whom permanent secretaries must report?

During the 1990s I attended a conference in Mexico and met the minister responsible for the construction development and heritage portfolio, who was an architect. Last year I attended another conference in the Dominican Republic and similarly that minister responsible for development and heritage was an architect and urban designer.

Architect and urban planner Dr Pedro Ortiz who delivered the 2019 inaugural Honourable Maurice Facey Lecture is a former politician of the Spanish government (1987-1999), and mayor of the Salamanca District in Madrid (1989-1991), who spearheaded Madrid’s 1996 Regional Plan. I delivered the address on Caribbean Small Island Developing States historic city centres on the same platform with Ortiz and other architects who were globally mayors and ministers providing wise direction for the sustainable development of their cities. This was an invitational International Seminar ¡Viva el Centro! in Mexico City organised by the Government of Mexico City and the Inter-American Development Bank in 2015. The Core thematic areas of this IDB event were (1) Putting people first, (2) Downtown is the city’s essence, (3) We’re all partners, and (4) Governing complexity.

ABSENT FROM DENSITY MAP

Absent from the density map of this DOC are the recognition and identification of zones of historic value being set aside in the KSA. The Vale Royal residence listed by the Jamaica National Heritage Trust as a national monument inside its Golden Triangle neighbourhood is totally disrespected by modified density and height increases changed from that shown on the 2017 PDO. Likewise, the downtown Kingston historic urban landscape is subsumed under increased density of plot-area-ratio on the DOC.

Additionally, some of the single dwelling house neighbourhoods should have been preserved as a part of the Jamaican cultural landscape. Lack of recognition of this landscape that nurtures an island environment with symbiotic natural ventilation and sustainable passive cooling is evident in this DOC forcing an agenda to replace existing characteristic Jamaican neighbourhoods with haphazardly sited high-rise construction which demands mechanical cooling and increased infrastructure provisions. They call for high maintenance and safety factors inputs unsustainable in SIDS.

‘Holness reveals plans for increased urban development’ headlines the Observer June 28, elaborating a scheme to distribute constituency funding for zinc fence replacements. What balances such cosmetic “urban development” activities alongside boosting construction with increased densities and heights across KSA neighbourhoods? Why are affordable housing solutions omitted from this DOC? Please, what is the plan for teachers, nurses, firefighters, police officers, and public servants?

- Patricia Green, PhD, a registered architect and conservationist, is an independent scholar and advocate for the built and natural environment. Send feedback to patgreen2008@gmail.com and columns@gleanerjm.com