THE Kingston and St Andrew Corporation (KSAC) has decided to re-examine an application from the US embassy to construct additional buildings – including USAID offices – at the embassy’s Liguanea headquarters, even as the council makes arrangements to tour the area following reports of traffic congestion caused by visitors to the embassy.

“We are planning next week to have an on-the-spot look at what is happening and decide where to go from there; and what approach we are going to take,” Kingston Mayor Desmond McKenzie said yesterday.

“The US embassy has an application before us for additional buildings, and we will have to consider the application in a very serious way in light of the situation,” the mayor told reporters at a press briefing after yesterday’s council meeting.

The date of the tour is yet to be decided, but McKenzie said a full statement would be issued after the tour. He said the KSAC was hoping to invite representatives from the National Works Agency (NWA), the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) and the police on the tour of the area.

According to McKenzie, “almost every day” since the embassy opened its doors people have been calling KSAC or sending e-mails complaining about the traffic congestion in Liguanea.

“The complaints we have been getting have been coming in fast and furious from people having difficulty accessing their houses and business places. Some of the plazas in Liguanea have had to put in measures to prevent persons, who are not transacting business with them, from parking there,” McKenzie said.

McKenzie told reporters that on Monday a lady called him to complain that she was verbally abused by people who had parked in her driveway to go to the embassy.

“We have to see that people’s property are not invaded by these people. I am prepared to sit down with the embassy to work this out. Our job is to see that free access is there for the public,” McKenzie added.

Meanwhile, the Liguanea Area Coalition of Citizens Associations (LACOCA) said the embassy had not complied with certain Town and Country Planning Authority (TCPA) restrictions.

On December 11, 2006, LACOCA called on NEPA to ensure that the US embassy complied with certain restrictions laid down by TCPA at the time the building plans were approved on May 20, 2004.

One of the restrictions required the embassy “to illustrate adequate parking for visitors transacting business, including visa applicants”.