AN alliance of citizens’ groups on Tuesday accused State agencies and the capital city’s managers of negligence in urban development planning, among other issues which are having negative effects on Kingston’s environmental health.

The Citizens Rights to the City (CRC) alliance took the Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation (KSAMC), National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA), and National Works Agency (NWA) to task during a virtual news conference, and demanded that the entities respond in a timely and relevant manner to written concerns, questions and proposals.

The alliance comprises 25 citizens’ associations from across the Kingston Metropolitan Area, among them Acadia, Jacks Hill, Leas Flat, New Kingston, Hope Pastures, Salisbury and Environs Neighbourhood Group, Stony Hill Community Group, and Stand Up for Jamaica.

“The CRC is extremely unhappy with the KSAMC, how they have been handling building development permits, permits they have been allocating to developers, and likewise with NEPA’s given approval where there are no sewage mains for these multi-family developments,” said Acadia Citizens’ Association President Horace Edwards.

According to the alliance, a meeting was held on April 27 with Kingston Mayor Senator Delroy Williams and approximately 16 associations at which several proposals and promises were made.

The CRC said it had asked the KSAMC to sort out issues which included ending provisional approvals subject to modification of covenants, establishing set standards and specifications for notices about developments, stepping up enforcement of the terms of building permits and relevant laws, and ensuring citizens’ written concerns are brought to relevant KSAMC committees.

The alliance also requested that the KSAMC uphold citizens’ right of access to information on applications, subsequent building permits, and permits for change of use of properties, and that KSAMC provide user-friendly public access to information on its website.

The CRC members said the mayor committed to greater transparency on proposed developments by making details of permits available on the KSAMC website, pledged to see that the public’s written concerns are brought to meetings of the building committee, and also promised to explore the possibility of citizens being able to join approval sessions.

The CRC also added that Mayor Williams promised to seek further legal advice on the municipality’s authority to withhold permits pending proof of restrictive covenants being lifted by the courts.

However, according to the CRC, there has been no move to act on the promises since the meeting.

In displaying their frustration the CRC members displayed placards reading ‘Green space saves lives’; ‘Overbuilding kills’; ‘KSAMC, wah really a gwan?’; ‘NEPA, tell us the truth about habitable rooms and the Government’, and ‘KSAMC, no covenant lifted, no permits’.

“When we communicate with these agencies we get the answers that they are looking into it — that’s if we get an answer — and for some we get no answer at all for months and years. So we are asking State agencies especially, in regards to public access information, that we are allowed to be aware of what’s happening in our communities, and that they follow the law,” said John Ricketts from Leas Flat Citizens’ Association.

Carol Narcisse, who is a member of the Golden Triangle Neighbourhood Association, said the CRC isn’t the only group complaining about the dereliction of duties among the State agencies.

“You would recall that a number of community residents have taken developers to court in recent years,” she said.

“You will recall that in many of those cases the court itself has been very sharp in criticising the derelictions of the KSAMC, NEPA, and all the agencies that are tasked with ensuring that rational development takes place and that the laws are enforced. It’s on record of the courts that our State agencies are failing badly,” she added.

Other requests made by CRC were for clarification of zoning and that all State agencies enforce stop orders and other sanctions to building projects that violate approved plans or breach regulations.