Patricia Green | KSAMC should abide by building act

Municipal corporations are bound by the 2018 Building Act as the procedural framework to handle development projects. There has been a spate of recent actions and pronouncements by the Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation (KSAMC) and the mayor of Kingston. It seems that the KSAMC has started reading the act, but some citizens have postulated whether the ‘riot act’ was read to them.

PUBLIC INFORMATION

According to Section 8, the KSAMC is to maintain “full, accurate and up-to-date records” and make the information available to the public, including: (1) receipt and processing of all applications for “building permits”, (2) approvals or other determination made, (3) inspections, (4) breaches of the National Building Code and other regulations under this Act, (5) issuance of certificates of compliance and certificates of occupancy. This latter is a critical responsibility because it is a matter of public safety. Without the KSAMC certification, completed buildings should remain unoccupied.

Persons shall not carry out any building work, states Section 17, “unless issued with a building permit, and where applicable, a planning permit under the Town and Country Planning Act.” Contravention of this renders one liable for conviction.

CERTIFICATION

Section 18 requires all applications to be accompanied by “building design and plans” and the certification application by a “building professional”. In the case of “small building work” (below 300 square metres), a “building practitioner” may apply, except if the work is complex.

A “notice of intention to carry out building works” is also required under Section 18. It must be placed in a conspicuous place on the land where the work will be executed and also posted at the nearest police station and post office or postal agency. These postings are intended to allow any person who has objections to register them.

Under Section 19, an application for a building permit shall be treated as “incomplete” unless the notice of intention to carry out building work has been posted. Further, the notice shall remain displayed until determination of the decision by all agencies on the application.

Since late November 2021, KSAMC notices began proliferating on gates, fences, also inside police stations and post offices across the Corporate Area. Citizens are wondering whether to take these notices seriously. Some have varying designs of watermarked logos, or are stamped by the KSAMC, or are without any official identification whatsoever.

Overnight, citizens are reading, “TAKE NOTICE OF INTENTION TO CARRY OUT BUILDING WORKS,” even on zinc hoarding with new construction in progress. Permission applications include: multi-family development /build a commercial development /construct townhouse residential development /erect apartment building. No. 7 Devon Road, Kingston 10, carries a notice to erect an eight-storey residential building.

Quoting Section 18 of the Building Act, these notices invite written objections or grievances, giving reasons to the KSAMC chief engineering officer within 14 days of the date affixed. However, when citizens contact the KSAMC, they are denied access to the development proposals. After a notice appears, some citizens scour social media to find any artist impressions, sometimes succeeding in locating information showing high-rise apartments, even some with rooftop swimming pools.

In late November 2021, two postings appeared on the same day, one in Red Hills and another in Kingston 8. However, Kingston 8 was dated October – long past the 14-days objection period. “Without the drawings, how are we to object?” bemoaned affected residents.

REPLETE WITH COMMENTS

Traditional and social media are replete with comments and actions by the KSAMC. Trending is the KSAMC court injunction served on the developers of 9 Evans Avenue, Kingston 8, St Andrew. One prominent attorney-at-law read this and texted; “Is this true? Is this a legal document?”

Yes, it was true; stamped “Civil Division Supreme Court December 24, 2021” signed December 23, 2021 by the hand of Mayor Delroy Williams [On behalf of the Claimant, THE KINGSTON AND ST ANDREW MUNICIPAL CORPORATION], also by Robert H. P. Hill, JP, Town Clerk, with the KSAMC stamp across his signature. It was even carried in the Gleaner January 20, ‘KSAMC wants brakes on Acadia apartment complex’.

Chat groups buzz, “but work is still continuing at 9 Evans Avenue”. How come? Social media is asking, “Did this development team receive a building permit?” Did they receive a planning permit under the Town and Country Planning Act?

In December 2021, Mrs Justice Hart-Hinds issued a judgment against the development at 10 Roseberry Drive, Kingston 8, St Andrew. Note that, by January 5, 2022, the KSAMC posted on the door of the post office inside the Grants Pen Police Station a “Notice of Irregularity”. Referring to Section 38, this cites work done at 10 Roseberry Drive contrary to the Building Act. It advises the developer that “failure to comply with this notice will render you liable to prosecution under the Kingston and St Andrew Building Act”.

The KSAMC expects to go before the Court over 9 Evans Avenue in March, ostensibly to remedy the breaches and comply with the approved plan. What does that mean?

Citizens have been objecting to the development on several grounds. Yet, Section 23 of the Building Act mandates the KSAMC to hold public or private consultation where “building work is proposed, or there is an objection to proposed building work”. Why are citizens being forced to use the Access to Information Act or the court systems over building projects next door?

No. 9 Evans Avenue has 1,533 square metres (0.3 acres), less than the requisite half-acre designated by the planning authority for multi-family development. In this regard, the Court ruled over 10 Roseberry Drive, “the property was unsuitable for development as a multi-family residence”. Why then is a multi-family development at 9 Evans Avenue in the same neighbourhood? Further, was the restrictive covenant lifted prior to construction? Is this proposed multi-family dwelling connected to a central sewerage system?

Citizens, if the KSAMC abides and operates within the framework of the 2018 Building Act – “Argument Done!!”

Patricia Green, PhD, is a registered architect, and former head of the Caribbean School of Architecture in the Faculty of the Built Environment at University of Technology, Jamaica. Send feedback to patgreen2008@gmail.com.