JAS taken to task for illegal building

The construction of the Roger Clarke Food Court and the erection of a building that will ultimately be a hotel and farmers' conference centre were pushed into the spotlight at the monthly sitting of the Clarendon Municipal Corporation on Thursday.

During a heated exchange surrounding a correspondence from the St James Municipal Corporation to support a resolution that the municipal police, who are district constables, be allowed to control traffic and issue tickets, Councillor Uphell Purcell of the York Town Division objected on the grounds that corporations could not control their own affairs.

"On the Denbigh Showground, there is an illegal building going up, and we can't do what needs to be done to stop its construction, so how are we going to control what is out there? It is an indictment on us," he said.

Purcell implored Mayor Winston Maragh to do what is right and reminded him that the buck stopped with him.

"We want to knock down the little man's old shop out there when he puts it up without being given permission. But you have somebody putting up two huge buildings, and we can't stop it," he continued, pointing out that the law for the little man must also be applied to the big man.

Maragh, in responding, said that notice had been served on the Jamaica Agricultural Society and that they have since been in meetings at the council and have "submitted a plan", which he said was not submitted properly. "So, they are now putting it together to send back to us ... but we are on top of it," he reported.

However, that did not satisfy Councillor Carlton Bailey from the Milk River Division as he questioned how that could have been allowed to happen.

"It should never happen right in front of us. I am almost certain that building is still continuing," he said. Yesterday, The Gleaner observed work in progress on the building in question.