HMC serves stop order on church development

WESTERN BUREAU:

MINISTRY OF Education building officers and administrators at the Hopewell High School in Hanover are expressing deep concern about the structural integrity and safety of a block of classrooms at that institution.

Classrooms sit just several feet away from a land slippage which occurred as a result of a church -- which owns the adjoining lot of land - excavating on their property between the school compound and the church’s lot.

The denomination in question, the Doer of Faith Church of God which now operates from rented premises in Hopewell, Hanover, purchased the land in Orchard Gardens, Hopewell and went about excavating the land for building purposes.

The resulting dangerous situation first surfaced in October 2022 when the school’s administration drew the matter to public attention by notifying the Hanover Municipal Corporation (HMC) about the depth of excavation works carried out on the church lot and its closeness to the school building.

The HMC, which issued a stop order on the church when it was first notified, demanded that no further construction be carried out on the church property until remedial work was carried out to correct the hazard created by the excavation.

The Gleaner was told that the church has an approved building plan but no approval for such excavation work to be carried out on the property.

Despite several attempts from the school administration to get some form of remedial work done by the church, no corrective work was carried out. As such, a meeting was held between representatives from the church, the Ministry of Education Region 4 and Kingston offices, and the school administration, inclusive of its board of governors, on Wednesday, June 21 at the school.

The excavated area on the church lot, which resulted in the subsequent land slippage, was visited by the attendees at that meeting on the day, before they sat down for discussions.

The Gleaner has been informed that, resulting from the discussions, representatives from the church were advised, and agreed, to forward a plan of action for corrective works they plan to carry out to the Ministry of Education’s chief building officer, Leonard Jackson, by Wednesday, July 5, for it to be examined.

Efforts to contact Jackson to find out if the required documents from the church were forwarded to him proved futile, as several calls to his cellular phone went to voicemail, and no return call was received.

When contacted by The Gleaner yesterday for an update on the situation, head of the Doer of Faith Church of God, Bishop Terrence Gordon, stated that he was scheduled to have a meeting with the board of directors of the church later in the evening, so he could not give a full update on the situation at that time.

“What I can tell you in the meanwhile is that work is in progress, the construction (of the corrective measures) is on the way, I can assure you. Any further details, I cannot really say until after I have met with my executive this evening,” he stated.

When contacted, the HMC’s CEO, David Gardner, stated that he is aware of the situation and that his organisation is on the verge of taking further action.

“I know that we had issued an initial stop order on the church at that location, and, as far as I know, we should be issuing a further stop and enforcement order on them to get the situation remedied,” he stated.

He said that the further stop and enforcement order should be issued by July 8.

In the meantime, administrators at the school say that they are eagerly awaiting some form of corrective measure to be taken, because the new academic year, which begins in September, is just a few weeks away.

“The situation can get worse if we should get some more rains, and we could see more land slippage in that area near to the building. I would not want my child to go in that building if there should be any further breakaway of the land. So I would not encourage anyone’s child to go in there if such a situation should arise,” a member of the school family, who did not want to be identified, told The Gleaner.