Kingston mayor to announce new development approval process
Published:Thursday | September 5, 2024 | 12:10 AMCarl Gilchrist/Gleaner Writer
With more and more persons, seemingly, having problems with the development approval process in the Corporate Area, Kingston Mayor Andrew Swaby says by next Tuesday, he will announce how objections are to be handled.
Speaking at the East Central St Andrew Constituency Conference at the Half-Way Tree Primary School on Sunday, Swaby said he wants to make sure citizens’ voices can be heard in a fair way.
“I want to make sure that while the developers have a right, the citizens have a right. I want to make sure that their voice can be heard in a fair way. That’s all I’m about, Comrades,” Swaby said.
Swaby’s comments come just over a month after a notice ordering an immediate cease and desist on all building work was served on July 31 to stop the construction of a car dealership at 11 West Lake Avenue in Richmond Park, St Andrew.
The stop order came after protests by residents of Richmond Park and a letter of complaint from Richmond Park Community Development Committee (RPCDC) on July 24.
Swaby said the KSAMC had conducted an investigation into the development and found that no application had been submitted to the municipality for 11 West Lake Avenue.
In April, while promising greater collaboration with developers, the mayor warned that they must adhere to Jamaica’s building and planning laws.
On Sunday, Swaby said he was not a PR (public relations) person but that he believed that citizens should know their rights and know what the KSAMC is doing.
“I’m not in anybody’s back pocket. I am here for the interest of the people of Kingston and St Andrew,” Swaby said.
In the meantime, the mayor appears to be taking aim at the Social Development Committee (SDC) for failure to establish sufficient Community Development Committees (CDCs) from which the local public accounts committee (LPAC) would emerge.
“I remember when I was deputy mayor under Comrade Angela Brown Burke, we made sure SDC had a parish development committee, and it’s from that committee mainly you can have your LPAC. So, Comrades, that job is squarely in the hands of the SDC, and I’ve been talking to them about that.”
Swaby questioned if he should “wait until the SDC get their act together” or form a body resembling the LPAC on a temporary basis in order to get the job done.
“I’m having the consultation to make sure that that is done in the near future,” the mayor disclosed.