KINGSTON, Jamaica— Deputy Mayor of Kingston and Minority Caucus Leader in the Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation (KSAMC) Delroy Williams has sought to highlight differences concerning the approval by the Building Committee on Wednesday of the ‘As Built’ application made by Estatebridge Limited and JACDEN Limited.

The statement from the deputy mayor was in response to Mayor of Kingston Andrew Swaby’s comments regarding the approval of the requested amendments to the Weycliffe Close residential development and the Lyndhurst Road commercial property.

Williams said he wished to bring clarity and highlight the following facts:

1. The statement from Mayor Swaby and the KSAMC leadership failed to note that in the case of Estatebridge, the company had a permit and applied for approval of minor variations. This is a normal procedure concerning any construction of note.
2. Concerning JACDEN, the entity did not have a permit for the building which was erected. JACDEN had applied for a permit to build a two- storey commercial building. However, a permit was not approved.
3. JACDEN proceeded to build a structure which exceeded the number of storeys particularised in their initial application. JACDEN then applied for regularisation. Prior to the building being regularised on Wednesday, the structure would have been contemplated in law as an illegal building.
4. For the avoidance of any ambiguity, Estatebridge had a lawful permit and applied for regularisation of minor variations. In the case of JACDEN, a building was constructed without a permit and was subsequently regularised.

The deputy mayor added that “it would be good if statements issued by Mayor Swaby and the leadership of the KSAMC are characterised by greater clarity.”

Both the residential development and the commercial building were cited for breaches.

In November 2023 a stop order was placed on the commercial building on Lyndhurst Road, which is connected to Councillor for the Maxfield Division, Dennis Gordon, after it was discovered that the construction was three storeys and not a two-storey structure as was permitted.

READ: Swaby confirms breach at Lyndhurst Road development

As for the residential development on 2 Weycliffe Close, which is connected to Prime Minister Andrew Holness, it was found to be in breach of the building permit issued by the KSAMC during the first inspection by the Integrity Commission’s director of investigations. It was revealed that the development consisted of four four-bedroom townhouses instead of four two-bedroom townhouses.

READ: Company connected to Holness accused of deliberate building breach by Integrity Commission