The Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation (KSAMC) has questioned why Harbour View and Bull Bay have not been designated as planning areas in the latest provisional development order drafted by the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) for the capital city.

The new provisional development order for Kingston and St Andrew, which was gazzetted in April 2017, will enable the State to provide better control of development in both the urban and rural areas of the municipality, Isau Bailey, senior planner at NEPA, told the council on Tuesday.

During the NEPA presentation it was disclosed that the KSAMC had pointed out that Harbour View and Bull Bay had not been included as planning areas despite the fact that many of the students at the Caribbean Maritime University on the Palisadoes strip were seeking living accommodations in those communities. It was also pointed out that the two areas were growing destinations for tourists.

Monique Grant, an urban planner at the KSAMC, said that the corporation felt that NEPA had given inadequate consideration to climate issues in the development order.

Also of concern is that there are no local area plans for Spanish Town Road, Seaview Gardens, and Riverton City in the development order.

In communities designated as local areas, planning takes density (how many people can live in a structure) into account. Under the order, the use of land for commercial and residential purposes will also be monitored.

The KSAMC has also questioned why, in the new order, New Kingston, Eastwood Park, and Richmond Park are still classified as residential areas.

Areas classified as local areas in the development order include Richmond Park, Port Royal, Stony Hill, Eastwood Park, and Manor Park.

Bailey said that the development order of 1966 did not monitor development in the rural areas of the municipality, but the new order would control developments in urban as well as the rural communities of St Andrew.

The new provisional order would focus on increasing densities and would promote mixed-use development and mixed-income housing, Bailey said. There would also be more emphasis on promoting economic growth.

A guiding principle would be the more efficient use of infrastructure, he said.

Bailey said that NEPA has had consultation meetings with various communities and groups and has urged them to comment or raise objections to the proposals.

During a brief question and answer period, Councillor Kari Douglas (PNP, Trafalgar Park Division) raised concerns that the new order was seeking to reclassify Seymour lands, a well-known residential area.