UDC powers curtailed
Published:Friday | February 10, 2012 | 12:00 AM
Avia Collinder, Business Writer
A ruling by the attorney general's (AG) office in December has effectively curtailed the powers of the Urban Development Corporation to act as planning authority for its own developments.
The AG's ruling, which rested on timing, has established that the National Environment and Planning Agency's (NEPA) permission is needed for even the super-agency's projects.
The decision rolls back an earlier opinion by the AG in May 2011 that reaffirmed that UDC did not need approval of its building plans from the parish council or other regulatory bodies for the Caymanas development.
UDC said the subsequent ruling by the attorney general's chamber on December 21 reversed that position, on the basis that the Natural Resources Conservation Authority Act came into force after the law establishing the UDC, and that all developers are required to conform to both the Real Estate (Dealers and Developers) Act and the NRCA Act.
The later laws do not exempt UDC from having to seek planning permits.
The ruling has immediate implications for real estate company New Era, a partner with UDC on an ongoing J$9.2-billion housing development that forms part of the multibillion-dollar Caymanas Estate development programme.
Both New Era and UDC were given two weeks by NEPA, to the end of January, to produce all regulatory agency applications for permits and licences required for the Caymanas Golf and Country Club Estate.
The permits are being sought late in the day with New Era 2000, operated by Canadian developer Leo Taddeo, currently advertising units in the gated community for sale.
Chief executive officer of NEPA, Peter Knight, said the AG's second opinion in December made it clear that no development could proceed without the requisite permits from his agency.
NEPA has since given permission to UDC and New Era to continue with the project while the permit applications are being processed.
"Broadly speaking, every development has an impact on the environment and for a major development such as Caymanas we would have concerns relating to drainage, traffic management, water resources, the impact on biodiversity and other issues," said Knight.
"There is a review process which will examine all of those questions and enable us to take evidence-based decisions. The developers understand quite clearly that if there are issues, they will have to prepared to face the consequences. Generally, if we are not satisfied with technical submissions or subsequent mitigation, actions will be taken."
Both NRCA and the Town and Country Planning Authority (TCPA) are units of NEPA.
The December opinion comes at the end of a months-long legal stand-off between UDC and NEPA that the AG's office was asked to settle.
The UDC said it "continues to be guided by the opinion" of the attorney general.
Knight said both New Era and the UDC relied on the earlier opinion from the AG's office which indicated that the UDC act superseded all others and that the New Era project could proceed without planning permit.
"The UDC did nothing wrong. As a government entity, they consulted with the arm of the state set up to advise on these things. The AG gave an opinion which the UDC acted on," said Knight.
The Caymanas Golf and Country Club estate is the first phase of a residential real-estate development that will eventually deliver 853 detached two- and three-bedroom units and cost J$9.2 billion to develop.
New Era acquired the land for the residential development from the UDC for J$289.2 million in November 2010 in one of the first public-private partnership deals to be struck under the expansive 10,700-acre Caymanas project.
Taddeo, the chairman of New Era Homes 2000 Limited, said in mid-2011 that he would deliver 200 middle-income homes to the market in eight months on a 131-acre property.
Permits and licences
Knight said NEPA called a meeting with the principals of both New Era and the UDC in the first week of January outlining the new position regarding the necessity of permits and licences.
"NEPA gave them five days in which to make the necessary application. I then invited all my colleagues in the government regulatory sphere - the heads of the National Works Agency, the Water Resources Authority, the Mines and Geology division and the Department of Environmental Health in the Ministry of Health - together to brief them on the AG's - 'new' opinion and because they were the key regulatory agencies that would have to strategise how to proceed," said Knight.
"They were also advised of the five-day deadline for application for permits," he said.
The applications were received on time.
Another meeting with the heads of agencies, departments and ministries was held subsequently on January 16, where the developers were told to deliver similar documentation to the various planning and licensing agencies within two weeks.
Knight said the planning authorities would expedite the permit process.
"We agreed that once we got the technical submission from the developers we would meet Friday, February 3. We are on target to begin the review period jointly," he said.
"Once we have done the review and we have satisfied ourselves that the technical documentation we require is on hand, we will be able to make an informed decisions on such matters as draining and traffic-management plans."
The next step is a meeting of the technical review committee (TRC).
That meeting is yet to be scheduled.
"If they are satisfied and so minded, they usually make a recommendation to the authority. If we reach that stage, then we will then call another unscheduled meeting of the TCPA and NRCA to consider the recommendations of the TRC," the NEPA CEO said.
"Usually they approve the development with conditions or variations or they can reject it. They will also state reasons."
New Era's housing estate is being developed in the section of the Caymanas property that UDC has dubbed the village for residential development.
Taddeo said last year that his project would be pursued in four phases, with the country club being the first.
New Era is already marketing the homes, which are advertised at starting prices of J$11.5 million for the two-bedroom units and J$14.5 million for the three-bedrooms.