THE National Housing Trust (NHT) will have to return to the drawing board and revise plans to develop an inner-city housing project in an area known for its Georgian architecture and where scattered evidence of Taino pottery was discovered.

This move came after the Jamaica National Heritage Trust [JNHT] told the housing agency that its development plan for prison lands at 3 Tower Street ought to take into account the preservation and integration of existing buildings of Georgian architecture in that area.

In fact the NHT, which is in discussions with the JNHT, told the Observer that it would consider four JNHT recommendations. The organisation proposed that:

. Detailed drawings of the buildings in the preserved area be prepared;

. Georgian buildings on Tower Street be preserved, restored and protected as National Monuments to be used in Heritage Tourism

. A watching brief be maintained for the entire development, since historic pottery works could have spread over the site; and

. The cholera cemetery be turned into a green area

The recommendations were made after the JNHT did a comprehensive study of 3 Tower Street, and submitted a report to the NHT on August 18 this year.

Last week, the NHT told the Observer that the housing development would begin “only after we have received all the requisite approvals and an agreement is reached with the JNHT”.

A report from the JNHT noted that scattered evidence of Taino pottery was found at the Tower Street site. However, “the volume of Taino pottery shreds is too small to say with any degree of certainty whether the Taino occupied the site permanently”, the report said.

The JNHT report also noted that “most of the buildings along Tower Street possess exquisite Jamaican Georgian Architecture, and along with the General Penitentiary, were fundamental features of the Tower Street historical streetscape.

“They are of great architectural and historical significance. It is important that these buildings be preserved and integrated into the proposed development”.

The October 18, Building and Town Planning Committee meeting of the Kingston and St Andrew Corporation (KSAC) had approved a number of inner-city housing developments to be done by the NHT, including the one at 3 Tower Street.

But according to Thelma Levy, director of planning at the KSAC, when the Building and Town Planning Committee approved the NHT Tower Street plan it was not aware of the JNHT’s recommendations.

In addition, Levy said the NHT application to the KSAC for the development of 3 Tower Street was not circulated to the JNHT because the site had not been declared a Heritage site.

The National Environmental Planning Authority (NEPA) subsequently told the Building Committee about the JNHT study.