By Denise Clarke, Staff ReporterWESTERN BUREAU:
THE J$9 million development plan for the city of Montego Bay has been reverted to the drawing board in favour of a broader plan, which incorporates the entire parish of St. James.
The Greater Montego Bay Area Plan 2014 was completed in 1997 as a 20-year plan for the development of the city. But, the 18-month-old Montego Bay City Council is moving to put forth a development plan for the entire parish, which would incorporate sections of the GMBA plan.
Vice-chairman of the City Council, Erica DeSilva, told The Gleaner that aspects of the six-year-old plan are now considered outdated and will have to be revised before being included in the new plan.
"I imagine that we will have to update certain aspects of it, which would have been outdated by now," Mrs. DeSilva said.
Mrs. DeSilva, who is the councillor for the Montego Bay central division, was unable to say when the new development plan would be ready. However, in the minutes of the April meeting of the Parish Council's Physical Planning and Environment Committee, under the subheading 'Montego Bay Redevelop-ment Plan 2014', it was noted that an application had been made to the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) under the City Alliance Programme for funding to complete the plan.
According to the minutes, "the application was not reviewed in a favourable manner as the City Alliance stated that the Parish Development Committee had to be on board."
When contacted, Director of Planning at the St. James Parish Council, Sophia Kerr-Reid, said she could not speak to The Gleaner on the matter.
Drafting of GMBA Plan 2014 began in 1990 and was completed and submitted to the Town Planning Department in 1997. The Greater Montego Bay Redevelopment Company (GMRC), which was formed to oversee the drafting and implementation of the development plan, had hoped to see the plan approved in time for the first phase to be included in the 1997/98 budget.
Several projects had been identified to begin the implementation process, including recommendations for a bypass road for Montego Bay, the creation of a Downtown Urban Incentive Zone, a waterfront development plan, an eco-tourism corridor involving a fishing complex along the waterfront, and a land titling programme with emphasis on the informal (squatter) communities.
However, one year after it was submitted, the GMBA plan 2014 was rejected by then Government Town Planner, Blossom Samuels, who described it as being 'too hard to read' and suggested that it be reviewed.
Calling it nothing but an advocacy document, Mrs. Samuels told the GMRC that the plan could not be promulgated as a development order.
In 2001, Government Town Planner, Franklyn McDonald, called for the plan to be updated to include new developments, such as the North Coast Highway and the emergence of formal and informal housing settlements.
