MANCHESTER, Jamaica — Mayor of Mandeville Donovan Mitchell says a stop order has been issued halting construction of a new KFC restaurant in Christiana, Manchester due to alleged building breaches.

“We are doing now some work to make sure that approvals for buildings in the parish is done properly. In our moving about we recognised that commercial building in the Christiana area has built more than they were approved for,” he told Observer Online Thursday night.

Mitchell in addressing the Manchester Chamber of Commerce made mention of the stop order during his presentation.

He provided clarity on the development during an interview after his presentation.

“A stop order has been placed on the building until we get in the proper plans until all of what should be done is done, because the soil type there and the problems we have there are going to make sure that everything has to be done in order,” he said.

“We are not in the game of blaming people for not doing the right things, it is our responsibility to make sure approvals have been done for these buildings and a stop order has been issued on that property and I am now awaiting the outcome and I will be following up on it personally to make sure all of this is done, he added.

He said the Manchester Municipal Corporation has in the past come under scrutiny for not clamping down on building breaches.

“People have been quarreling that we haven’t been doing our work and now we are out there doing our work and making sure that people stick to the plan, stick to what we have given them to do, if they think they can do better or do some more on it, you come in and talk to us, because approval and development in this parish must be done in an order that everyone can be pleased,” he said.

He identified the property during the interview.

“It is that same property that houses the KFC building, but they are not quite finished as there seems to have been some disruption regarding the back of the building where sewage is concerned,” he said.

The Mayor said he received complaints about the property while on a tour of Christiana with councillors recently.

“In our movements in the Christiana area, it came to our attention to look at that building, it was a day when all councillors were doing a tour of Christiana, so we looked at it and I asked my staff to go out and make sure that everything is being done in order and so the report came back to say some things have been done that were never on the approval,” he said.

When asked what was done outside of the approval of the municipality, Mitchell explained some of the issues.

“The problem I think is the basement, it was put in without our approval. There are things that have been done outside of the scope,” he said

“If you have been given a stop order to do a building and you build outside of the approval, it calls for a stop order and if people are not obeying it then you go to court. We have to make sure that the building is safe for everyone to go in and that is exactly what we are doing,” he added.

— Kasey Williams