MANDEVILLE, Manchester — Although they welcome steps being taken to maximise land use in this south-central parish, business and community leaders are worried Mandeville may not be able to handle it.

“We have at the Manchester Municipal Corporation now begun, with NEPA [National Environment and Planning Agency], establishing what we call the ‘per acreage’. Anybody who does real estate would understand that in Manchester we have a maximum of 30 habitable rooms per acre. What we have done now is to extend it in some areas to 50 habitable rooms and if you are so obliged, you might get 80 habitable rooms,” explained Mayor of Mandeville Donovan Mitchell.

Talks between NEPA and the local authority were held on July 15 and have sparked great interest among stakeholders with an interest in the fast-growing parish.

Immediate past president of the Manchester Chamber of Commerce Simone Spence-Johnson is among those who have welcomed the proposal.

“For the town of Mandeville and the parish of Manchester, it is very good news. We see the real estate boom coming to central Jamaica and if it is that you can get more rooms per acre, that is a win-win all around,” she said.

However, Spence-Johnson, who is also a realtor, said development must be done with a long-term vision in mind to avoid problems.

“I need to have a broader picture of what we want the landscape to look like in five, 10, 20 years and work towards that and put certain parameters in place from now,” she told the Jamaica Observer last week.

“If it is that we want Mandeville to be a metropolitan town then we have to start making provisions for that to take place down the road, so we talk about proper road structure, drainage, how we [assess] covenants [on titles]. We need to start looking at it from a bigger picture and make the necessary steps to get it to where we want to go,” she said.

For chairman of the Manchester Parish Development Committee Anthony Freckleton, his biggest worry is water. In his view, the provision for the increase in habitable rooms should be delayed until Mandeville’s water woes are addressed.

“We are going to have a lot of challenges. I think we are putting the cart before the horse as it relates to increasing the density in Mandeville in particular. Whereas I am in full support of increasing the density in the townships like Mile Gully, Cross Keys and Porus, as it relates to Mandeville it is going to create serious congestion,” he said.

“In other words, we have a water problem. We are trying to solve that problem now, because there is a deficit of six to eight million gallons of water per day that is required based on our sustainable development goal,” added Freckleton.

The greater Mandeville area is short millions of gallons of water, with most of the life-giving liquid being expensively pumped from wells on the plains of neighbouring St Elizabeth.

The Pepper well field, downslope at low altitude in St Elizabeth, is the main source of water for Mandeville, which is more than 2,000 feet above sea level, atop the Manchester Plateau.

Mandeville and surrounding communities have struggled with water shortages for decades, with town elders insisting over a period of many years that the problem has hindered growth.

Many households in Manchester and the wider south-central Jamaica have had to rely on rainwater harvesting.

The long-standing issue of water supply has not only affected households, but commerce, with businesses suffering from inconsistency in the supply of the precious commodity.

Speaking with the Sunday Observer, Freckleton reiterated a proposal for wells — which were used to supply water to the now-mothballed Windalco/Kirkvine bauxite/alumina plant — to be tapped into to help alleviate Manchester’s water crisis.

“We have been working with the Ministry of Mining to negotiate with UC Rusal to get control of the wells in Porus that could provide five million gallons of water. I would strongly recommend that we postpone this change to the development order until that is done,” he said.

Lyden “Trevor” Heaven, proprietor of Heaven’s FESCO in Mandeville and chairman of FESCO, also pointed to the city’s water woes.

“When you talk about resources to support habitable rooms you are going to look at the whole question of the utilities; water and light are key. I am not so sure whether Mandeville is at that point right now to be able to accommodate that kind of increase in demand in any one spot,” he said.

Heaven also noted that “there is not much of a fallout in terms of rooms” in Manchester.

“If you look at what has happened in more developed areas like Kingston and Montego Bay, most people are going up, so you have like five to 10 storeys going up for accommodation purposes. What it does though is bring in the question of crowding in a particular area with the demand on spaces and the requisite demand for parking; because now you find that each household has three and four vehicles,” he said.

“In an apartment context, the parking facilities are so far lagging behind the demand itself. We have to balance that now. There is really nothing wrong with trying to maximise the space, but at the end of the day there are other needs and requirements to support a complex congestion of a particular space,” Heaven added.

He stressed that proper planning is necessary.

“It is fine to say that we are going to move to 80 habitable rooms per acre — and I believe an acre can accommodate 80; but at the end of the day does that acre allow you the requisite space for recreation and parking? I doubt it, so we need to do a balance now between the demand for the space for rooms per acre with the demand for other requirements,” he cautioned.

For years leaders have lobbied for the boundaries of Mandeville to be extended to areas such as Kingsland. Spence-Johnson reiterated that view and pointed to the need for adequate parking when doing developments.

“All of those major roads leading into the town that have space, now we can make proper planning. We know almost everyone has a car now, so we need adequate parking. Now is an opportune time for us to start planning what we want our town and our parish to look like,” she said.

She argued that while commercial investments are necessary, there should be a balance with affordable housing solutions.

“Currently the residential market is shifting. People are looking for a midrange, $25 million to $30 million range, as soon as they pop up on the market, so we have to look at more affordable options for people coming to work here to be able to live here,” she said.

“I know we need to take steps to get there in terms of affordable housing solutions for those persons coming in. Not everyone will be able to afford a $300,000 mortgage, so we have to be realistic and set it at a place where they can reach. If we want our young people to stay, we have to provide opportunities for them to be able to own properties and do investment here and be able to grow,” Spence-Johnson added.

File photo of Mandeville town centre

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HEAVEN… I am not so sure whether Mandeville is at that point right now to be able to accommodate that kind of increase in demand in any one spot

FRECKLETON… I think we are putting the cart before the horse as it relates to increasing the density in Mandeville in particular