An article by the Jamaica Information Service (JIS) on June 24, 2021, stated that “Cabinet gave approval for the settlement and financial support to citizens for claims arising from fires at Riverton Disposal Site on February 6, 2012, and March 7, 2015.”
Recognising that “… any person or body of persons has suffered, is suffering, or is likely to suffer an infringement of his constitutional rights as a result of any action taken by an authority or an officer or member of that authority …”, the public defender shall investigate any action in accordance with Section 13 (1) of the 2000 Public Defender (Interim) Act, is quoted in the ‘Public defender’s investigative report into the March 2015 fire at Riverton City dump/disposal site’ of March 2016.
Is compensation awaiting citizens who have suffered, are suffering, or are likely to suffer over development breaches related to restrictive covenant issues in their communities? The Gleaner editorial of April 26 outlined that Government and Parliament should make it “… more difficult for developers to misbehave, especially with regard to their attitude to restrictive covenants … .”
Restrictive covenants “… tend to create and preserve the character of the neighbourhood …” according to the National Land Agency. The online platform of the Local Authority Development Approval Process states, “… restrictive covenants are clauses in a property title that limit what the owner of the land can do within the property boundaries. They are intended to enhance property values by controlling development …”.
Reiterating here that municipal corporations are mandated only to issue a “Building Permit” for those developments over 300 metres square, provided all conditions of approval by the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) and other entities are fulfilled. However, the common practice is that building construction commences immediately after the Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation (KSAMC) returns an “Outline Approval” containing criteria that should be fulfilled on any development project. Invariably, these include modifications to restrictive covenants to enable proposed development. Starting construction with an outline approval is illegal.
It is incorrect for the KSAMC to utter that their building permit issuance is unconnected with restrictive covenants. This belies Local Authority Approval Process online, “… a person who purchases a lot in a development with restrictive covenants must honor [sic] the limitations as these covenants ‘run with the land’…”. Therefore, the KSAMC must issue building permits only if restrictive covenants are modified where required.
STOP ORDERS VIOLATED
KSAMC ‘Stop Orders’ are violated, including defying court ruling, for developments on Evans Avenue, Acadia, plus on Barbican Salisbury Avenue and Kings Drive. Citizens of Molynes Garden are confronting restrictive covenant breaches in their residential community, which is being transformed into commercial property in spite of repeated unattended correspondence to the KSAMC.
So what is driving the acceleration of development across the Kingston Metropolitan Area (KMA), ignoring restrictive covenants and stop orders?
In 2016, the Government established the ‘Jamaica Special Economic Zone Authority’ to facilitate development and promote investments in ‘Special Economic Zones’ (SEZs), to grow the Jamaican economy through investments and job creation, and make Jamaica a major player in the ‘Global Logistics’ chain.
In 2017, the Final Report: The Jamaica Logistics Hub Initiative: Market Analysis and Master Plan, recommended “…connecting road, rail, air transportation networks, upgrades of utilities such as power, water, and waste-water treatment, and enhancement of digital communications infrastructure along with associated commercial and residential facilities in Kingston and elsewhere in Jamaica …”. It mentioned a ‘Land Use Plan’ to recognise relevant development planning legislation, such as the Town and Country Planning Act and the Local Improvements Act, that would integrate existing Parish Development Plans and Orders “… to maximise harmony between the Logistics Hub developments and fenceline communities”.
By May 8, 2017, after consultation with the KSAMC, the parishes of Kingston and Saint Andrew and the Pedro Cays were designated as ‘The Town and Country Planning (Kingston and Saint Andrew and the Pedro Cays) Provisional Development Order’ (PDO). This sets out 19 local planning areas: 1) Barbican; 2) Cargill Lands; 3) Constant Spring Gardens; 4) Cross Roads; 5) Eastwood Park Gardens; 6) Halfway Tree; 7) Liguanea; 8) Manor Park; 9) New Kingston; 10) Northern Mountain View; 11) Papine University District; 12) Patrick Gardens; 13) Port Royal; 14) Red Hills; 15) Richmond Park; 16) Seymour Lands; 17) Stony Hill; 18) Southern Mountain View; and 19) Downtown Kingston. It increased density across neighbourhoods in the KMA, allowing residential developments to exceed two storeys.
Such developments are predicated on lot size, availability of a central sewerage system, and modification of restrictive covenants.
BREACHED
Close examination of the PDO shows that the Meadowbrook and Havendale neighbourhoods are outside of any Local Planning Area and thereby should remain as single dwelling units, maximum two-storey high. These have been breached.
In 2019, in concert with development of the SEZs, Jamaica won its bid to host the World Free Zones Organization Eighth Annual International Conference and Exhibition, but the event was postponed due to COVID-19.
By 2020, seemingly fulfilling projections for ‘Development Phasing Plan’ infrastructure inside SEZs for the ‘Logistics Hub Initiative’ (LHI) under the component of ‘Private Sector Investment,’ KMA multifamily highrise residential developments have mushroomed. Some units received approval for two bedrooms, yet after completion, are advertised as three bedrooms and priced in US dollars.
What type of housing needs are being met by these high-density residential developments? How affordable are they to average Jamaicans? Who is the target market?
On May 25, the JIS headlined ‘700 Visitors for World Free Zones Conference and Exhibition’, whose staging June 13-17 in Montego Bay is billed as a pivotal opportunity for Jamaica to showcase its ideal location for SEZs investment.
So are KMA highrise apartments a part of this showcasing? Have these fulfilled targets associated with the SEZs and LHI projections?
Also on May 25, at the Sectoral Debate in Parliament, Minister of Local Government and Rural Development Desmond McKenzie lamented the sad state of development practices in the KMA. Sand and construction material are being stored in the public thoroughfare, in bus stops, and on sidewalks, impeding traffic and pedestrians. The minister continued, “… construction taking place in the dead of night, people are casting concrete one, two, three o’clock in the mornings …”.
Yet after repeatedly reiterating support for developments, Minister McKenzie declared “… the local authority is not in a position to monitor these events …”.
It seems that the minister of local government and rural development has told Parliament that there is an absence of institutional capacity to correct construction development disorders across the city. To resolve these issues, the minister shared that he would spearhead a ministerial task force.
What message has Minister McKenzie conveyed to citizens with aggrieved restrictive covenant issues from assumedly SEZs unabated residential developments next door, some illegally, plus on boundary walls?
– Patricia Green, PhD, is a registered architect and conservationist, is an independent scholar and advocate for the built and natural environment. Send feedback to patgreen2008@gmail.com.