The Tribune

By DANA SMITH

Tribune Staff Reporter

dsmith@tribunemedia.net

SPEAKING on the Planning and Subdivisions Act in Abaco yesterday, former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham outlined the importance of having policy and legislation in place for town planning.

Recognising the island is prime for further development, Mr Ingraham noted the need for environmental protection as large amounts of land are covered by protected wetlands and Caribbean Pine trees.

He also criticised those who forsake town planning regulation standards and open shops in residential areas or “operate impromptu fish, conch, or crab stalls any and everywhere” because of hard economic times.

Addressing the Real Estate Association of Abaco, he said: “Success in (town) planning requires an understanding of environmental issues; it requires clear policy and legislative guidance for development that balances economic needs with environmental necessities.

“This is why we need Land Use Plans and this is why we need defined processes for applications, for development, or for seeking waivers from regulations.”

The Planning and Subdivisions Act, he said, addresses the “inadequacies in our laws, regulations, and processes that impact land management and regulation of what is called the built environment.”

The Act “broadens the scope” of town planning to include environmental impact assessments and also requires the public to become involved in the approval process, Mr Ingraham explained.

It builds on community development and “tackles the core issues” home-owners, businesses, and developers face today, he continued. It also sets out “clear” guidelines and definitions for approvals.

“Its main goal is to prevent the indiscriminate division and development of land while protecting the country’s natural and cultural heritage,” Mr Ingraham said.

“It supports the development of a culture which understands the need for long term planning – something that we, as a country, did not, historically, give a great deal of attention.”

The former prime minister also pointed out that the Act “significantly” reduces time and costs associated with obtaining town planning and building control approval for the construction of houses in an approved subdivision or community.

“The Act requires developers of subdivisions to meet minimum standards, instal infrastructure, provide access to all essential utilities, preserve wetlands, and ensure that their projects do not cause unsustainable damage to the environment,” he said.

“For significant developments, an environmental and traffic impact assessment may be required. And, where development is along our coastline, developers have to guarantee public access to the sea.

“The Act contains general land planning guidelines prohibiting construction in wetlands, requiring agreed setbacks for construction – from boundary lines, from the roadway and from the high water mark, preservation of vistas to the sea and access to the beach; prohibition of backfilling of wetlands, prohibition of excavation without permits or of land clearing without permits and without due care and attention to protect listed protected.

“It was our hope and expectation that this new law would help us to bring order to development and prohibit bad environmental and planning practices endured for far too long.”

Mr Ingraham also criticised those who condone these “bad” planning practices and claim environmental standards should be waived as a result of tough economic times.

“I cannot say often enough that a bad development decision is bad whether we are in good or bad economic times,” he said.

“Requiring a developer, an architect, a civil engineer, or a contractor to meet minimum standards, instal infrastructure, provide access to all essential utility services, prohibit development on wetlands, and ensure that developments do not cause unsustainable damage to our natural resources cannot be reserved for good economic times only.

“We cannot use ‘hard economic times’ as justification to approve the construction of residences in unapproved subdivisions or in subdivisions with no evidence of infrastructure installation; to build a duplex in a single family residential area as was done in Central Pines; to operate a shop out of a converted car garage or to convert a residence into an office – in an area restricted by zoning for residences only; to open a shop or a restaurant in a residential area and then introduce unauthorized loud music and outside seating; to run unauthorized and unlicensed street stalls; to hold unauthorised ‘sidewalk sales’ or to place billboards on sidewalks obstructing pedestrians and creating congestion, to operate impromptu fish, conch or crab stalls any and everywhere.

“And ‘tough times’ can’t excuse unauthorized backfilling of wetlands or excavation of hills, or informal subdivide plots of land, or building too close to a boundary line or near to the high water mark along the seashore.”

Mr Ingraham said that the outcome of the 2010 law “remains uncertain” – particularly in the Family Islands – as “the present government will have some say in the outcome.”

In order for it to be successful, he said, “the government will need to provide local government authorities with the resources to enforce the law. They will need also to ensure that public officers and local government authorities enforce both the spirit and the letter of the law.”