St Catherine farmers push back at housing plans
Published:Saturday | June 26, 2010 | 12:00 AM
Patrina Pink, Gleaner Intern
An old, rusty truck and a few discarded appliances greet visitors at the entrance to Spring Village, St Catherine. The community, which adjoins Spring Gardens and Nightingale Grove, is reminiscent of a ghost town. However, these three communities are far from dead, and farmers there are in a militant mood.
Agriculture is still the heartbeat of the area and farmers with land holdings there are demanding that things stay that way.
When farmers got word that plans were afoot to allow for the building of residences, they hastily came together and rejected the proposal via a petition. The petition garnered more than 200 signatures.
The small farmers say that they are being kept in the dark about proposed development. One farmer with whom The Gleaner spoke said that re-zoning plans were "being sneaked through Parliament".
"This man has a number of contracts with the Government. He is the one benefiting from all of this," he remarked.
The St Catherine farmers said they had been trying, unsuccessfully, to contact their parliamentary representative.
MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS
However, South West St Catherine's Member of Parliament Everald Warmington is insistent that the farmers have no argument.
"Government is not going to rezone their property so I don't see what the fuss is about," he told The Gleaner.
"This man has his 200 acres of land and he says he doesn't want to do any cane, he wants to build houses. I am in favour of it."
The land was purportedly sold on the basis that its new owner would continue to cultivate sugar cane, once the backbone of the communities.
However, a diminished sugar industry has meant less interest in cane cultivation.
"It's none of their business, they don't own the community. They should focus on their own property," said the member of parliament.
But for farmers like Ralston Palmer, who has been tilling Spring Village soil for more than 40 years, it is their business.
"This is a small community. We don't need any housing schemes and housing scheme problems," he said.
Farmers said the development of housing schemes would add to their well-documented flooding concerns.
President of the Nightingale Grove Farms Citizens' Association, Christopher Bacchus, said that the area's vulnerability to inundation had been long ignored.
"The roads are like a riverbed. They keep putting up new developments, so the water has nowhere to run to," remarked Bacchus.
WATER-SUPPLY PROBLEM
He also said that a new housing scheme would only add to their exasperating water-supply problem.
"We only have one well for this entire area, and now it serves Bushy Park. They keep building schemes without the proper management. There's hardly any water in the pipes because the well has to serve everybody," said Bacchus.
The dominant business entity in the area, Jamaica Broilers (JB), shares Bacchus' views on the inappropriateness of a housing scheme.
Christopher Levy, president and chief executive officer of the company, is also aware of plans to re-zone sections of the Spring Gardens community to accommodate a housing scheme. Like the farmers, he, too, is against the proposal.
"I don't think people realise the level of industry that takes place in the Spring Village area," said Levy.
"There is no doubt that housing is needed in Jamaica, but you have appropriate planning and inappropriate planning. It's not fair to ask people to live beside a Jamaica Broilers plant. We have a 15-megawatt generator."
The re-zoning could also hurt the business relationship between residents and Jamaica Broilers. Currently, many community farmers raise poultry for the company. Bacchus said re-zoning could result in rising property values and concomitant higher taxes.
"Their taxes will go up. Many of the farmers who have contracts with JB, CB (Caribbean Broilers) or raise livestock, will have to subdivide or sell in order to survive," Bacchus lamented.
Levy also said that if the farmers were unable to satisfy JB's demand, his company would have to source poultry elsewhere.