IF you’re fortunate enough to own a significant amount of land and you intend to break it up into 10 or more smaller lots — whether for sale or gifting — you will need to get subdivision approval.

Planning technologist in the St James Municipal Corporation’s Planning Department Michael Whittaker explained the process.

Jamaica Observer Ltd (JOL): There are sometimes complaints that the process for subdivision approval is extremely lengthy. Is it unduly so?

Michael Whittaker (MW): It’s a long process, and it may be overwhelming to some persons. When you submit the subdivision application, we have to refer it to our external agencies. You need an environmental permit from National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA), which is the Government town planner; the chief technical director, which is the National Works Agency (NWA); and the Jamaica Fire Brigade, which will check whether or not any fire hydrants will be required to be installed within the subdivision.

It is referred to other agencies depending on the type of application — for example, location of the property, number of lots being subdivided into.

Let’s say it is located in an area where there’s a river, then it may be referred to Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM) because it might be a flood-prone area. If it’s a watershed area, we might have to refer it to the Water Resources Authority. If it’s a hilly area and depending on the type of soil it has, it might have to be referred to the Mines and Geology Division.

Those determinations are made when the application is submitted, but the primary agencies are NEPA and NWA.

JOL: Once all the relevant agencies sign off on the subdivision, what’s next?

MW: Once we get recommendations from all of the commenting agencies, we then compile the conditions of approval. The applicant will be required to review that list of conditions, and see whether or not he agrees to those conditions.

Once he agrees, he will sign on the document to say, ‘I have read and I have accepted all the conditions’. If he is objecting to a condition or conditions, he may state his objections. Then we will do our own assessment of whether we can do what the applicant is asking for instead: it may be a modification or removal of a condition, things that we or relevant agencies will need to assess.

But once the applicant accepts all the conditions, we proceed to another stage where it is tabled at our committee for first approval.

Once first approval is granted, we have to send it to the minister who is responsible for land to confirm the subdivision. This is required under the Local Improvement Act. Once the minister confirms the subdivision, final approval is granted. The minister’s decision is final.

JOL: What are the rules about including green areas within subdivisions?

MW: If you’re doing 10 lots and over, you are required to provide open space/green areas. It’s for non-residential use of the community within that subdivision. Based on how many lots you’re doing, it tells you what amount of green space or open space you are to provide.

JOL: What are some of the checks and balances in place during the subdivision process?

MW: There’s a stage which a lot of persons might not be aware of; you have to apply for a certificate of compliance. It states that the applicant has complied with all of the conditions that were outlined in the approval. So let’s say, for example, in doing a subdivision you’re putting in a road. That requires some other additional requirements, for example, the road has to be asphalted.

There may be another condition that says you have to install a street light within the subdivision; or you have to erect a stop sign at an intersection of the roads. There may be a condition that says you have to install a fire hydrant within the subdivision. You also have to run your water mains. Those are called infrastructure works and have to be completed before you can obtain a certificate of compliance.

When someone applies to us for the certificate of compliance, the superintendent of roads and works — now called the chief engineering officer under the new Building Act — will carry out his site investigation to ensure that all those conditions have been complied with. Once our superintendent is satisfied with the works that have been carried out within the subdivision, he will recommend that the certificate be granted for the release of the lots within the subdivision.

The applicant is then able to go to titles office and apply for the splinter titles. When you’re doing a subdivision you cannot obtain a title without getting approval of the subdivision and the certificate of compliance. Registrar of Titles requires that you obtain those from the municipal corporation.

JOL: What are some of the duties of the chief engineering officer in ensuring standards are maintained?

MW: For example, in the case of fire hydrants, the chief engineering officer has to see that they are in place. But the fire department checks that they are working and there is water in them. When it comes to checking that the standards of the roads put in are up to par, the chief engineering officer has the technical ability to make that assessment. But there are some large housing developments where we’ll require that they carry out road compaction tests, and that the results of those compaction tests are submitted to the chief engineering officer for his assessment.

JOL: Why is it important to follow the rules when doing subdivisions and building, in general?

MW: When they’re building, I don’t think persons think about the safety aspect of it. They just want to build their house and they want to move in and that’s it. But all of this is for their safety.

 The chief engineering officer in the local authority should have the technical skills to check that the standards of roads put into a subdivision are up to par.

An under construction subdivision