KSAC extends deadline for removal of illegal billboards
OWNERS of illegal billboards and advertising signs in the Corporate Area were Monday given a 14-day reprieve, until June 17, to remove them or face prosecution.
The extension was granted following a meeting between representatives of the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce (JCC) and the Kingston and St Andrew Corporation (KSAC).
The corporation’s building and town planning committee last week threatened to remove, starting Monday, dozens of illegal signs, which were mounted without the council’s permission and to prosecute the offenders.
“We have decided on a different plan of action,” KSAC town clerk, Errol Greene, told the Observer. He added that the chamber, which mediated on behalf of the private sector, requested a meeting to work out a plan. “Out of that meeting, a plan of action was arrived at and we are preparing notices to be served on the offenders, giving them a window of 14 days to begin to move the signs or face prosecution,” the town clerk said.
Meanwhile, KSAC building and town planning committee chairman, Trevor Bernard, said 500 notices were served on offenders Monday. “We estimate (that) there are about 2,500 people breaking the law and littering the city with illegal signs which will be torn down at the end of the 14-day notice, which is June 17, and the offenders taken to court,” Bernard said.
Bernard said advertisers erecting billboards need approval from the council, noting that an inspection fee of between $2,000 and $40,000 was required with an application and design of the signs or billboard to be mounted. He said the city engineering department is required to inspect the site, foundation, installation of billboards and for the electronic signs an electrical inspection must be carried out.
The posting of advertising signs, notices, bills and placards are regulated by the Main Roads Act; the Town and Country Planning Act; the Litter Act; the KSAC Act and the Advertisements Regulation Act.
Last year, sign removal crews from the Ministry of Transport and Works in collaboration with the KSAC removed dozens of signs and banners that were illegally mounted on light posts, trees and walls in the Corporate Area.
