Court grants injunction to halt work on Acadia development

Developer Orpheus Stennett has been forced to stop work on his apartment complex in Acadia, St Andrew, after the Supreme Court granted an injunction sought by the Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation (KSAMC).

Stennett consented in court to the injunction order, his attorney Cardena Clarke said, adding: “We remain committed as always in ensuring compliance with the relevant authorities.”

The KSAMC has alleged that the developer has been carrying out construction at 9 Evans Avenue, contrary to building and planning approvals.

“The injunction basically states that the developer must immediately cease all works on the site or any development whatsoever in contravention of the Planning Act, the Building Act and the Confirmed Development Order,” explained Robert Hill, chief executive officer of the KSAMC.

The injunction that was granted last Tuesday is to remain in place until March 3, 2022, when the matter goes back to court.

Hill said the KSAMC wants Stennett to remedy the breaches and comply with the approved plan.

Stennett was named as the first respondent and Jennifer Graham the second respondent in the case filed before the court in December.

Last Tuesday’s decision was handed down a week after hearings started.

The alleged breaches were brought to the KSAMC’s attention in October 2020 following a Sunday Gleaner investigation that resulted in the authorities issuing a cease and desist order.

According to the corporation, it had approved the construction of four two-bedroom units, eight one-bedroom units, and six studios, but it found that the developer did not conform with the building plan that was approved on November 6, 2019.

BREACHED PERMIT

It is alleging that its developer or his agents breached the permits by increasing the number of habitable rooms and balconies, bumping up the quantity of bedrooms in some units, converting powder rooms into balconies and living rooms into bedrooms, and building partitions to facilitate the conversion of open spaces into bedrooms.

The corporation is seeking several orders, including a declaration that Stennett and his agents or servants have breached the Planning Act, the Town and Country Planning and Development Order, as well as the Building Act.

The Acadia Citizens’ Association had sought the intervention of the authorities – KSAMC and the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) – months before the KSAMC took action.

This latest court decision is among a few in recent months that have energised residents aggrieved over the perceived lack of action and appetite by the regulatory authorities to punish practitioners who’ve flouted the law.

Last Wednesday, nine citizens’ associations from the Corporate Area and the Jamaica Environment Trust issued a joint call for the authorities to temporary suspend approving high-rise, high-density developments of over three storeys in height, and 75 habitable rooms per hectare (or over 30 habitable rooms per acre) “in established, low-density neighbourhoods”.

They also say the KSAMC, NEPA and the Natural Resources Conservation Authority are to account for “their failure to ensure a transparent process” in granting permits.

“We have made numerous submissions to NEPA and KSAMC, with only very rare acknowledgement and response and, until recently, very little action,” the groups said.

Earlier this month, the under-pressure KSAMC announced several reforms, including mandatory inspections every three months for every development, and evaluations at various stages of completion.

Kingston Mayor Delroy Williams has also proposed the overhauling of the KSAMC’s Planning Department.

In December, a Supreme Court judge raised questions of negligence and possible corruption at the KSAMC and NEPA after a developer built 32 bedrooms on a 10 Roseberry Drive complex that was approved for 12.

NEPA, which grants environmental permits, and municipal authorities that issue building approvals have been facing the brunt of public criticisms over their performance.

However, the development regulatory ecosystem also includes the Real Estate Board (REB), that, among other things, issues licences and registration for real estate dealers such as developers and salespersons.

DEVELOPERS CONVICTED

The REB has now indicated that two of the six developers referred to the police over the last 10 years were convicted.

Last week, a Sunday Gleaner report opened an examination of the role REB over the last decade. The REB said it was not made clear that the referenced six cases were sent to the police over the period and not very recently.

“These are long-standing matters, which were handed over to the police many years ago,” the agency said in a statement Monday, adding that two of the developers were found guilty of offences under the Real Estate (Dealers and Developers) Act (REDDA) and the Larceny Act.

The REB did not give specific details on the cases.

However, according to the June 2019 issue of the agency’s journal, real estate developer Harry Douglas was convicted in St Ann in May 2019 for accepting monies for land ahead of completion (known as prepayment contracts). He was also found guilty of establishing an unregistered development scheme and of failure to register with the REB as a real estate developer.

The journal said Douglas’ conviction followed a similar one involving a developer in January 2019.

Meanwhile, other REB publications pointed to several legal cases over the 10-year period.

A 2014 REB newsletter pointed to four matters, including Douglas’. The other three related to Lauren Lewis or Tony Lewis, who pleaded guilty in the Manchester Parish Court in July 2014 to breaches of the REDDA and was fined $20,000 and handed a suspended prison term.

Devon Evans was due to stand trial in March 2015 over alleged breaches relating to a proposed development scheme at 39 Wellington Drive, Kingston 6.

There was also the case of Reuben Espeut, who was due to stand trial for alleged breaches of REDDA and fraudulent conversion.

The REB said the recent cases in the media involving developers do not involve issues regulated by the board.

“The overwhelming majority of real estate developers registered with the board are, in fact, law-abiding professionals … . The board often find the registered developers cooperative and willing to discharge their contractual obligations expeditiously,” the agency said.

jovan.johnson@gleanerjm.com