Dear Editor,
Please refer to an article, which appeared in your issue of May 22, captioned, ‘Beharry Group waiting months on city for KFC approvals’. It is part of our statutory mandate to keep the public informed on matters affecting the council and the city as a whole. However, we wish to state that it has never been the practice of the city council to prevent economic development; we would be foolhardy to do that. It is clear that we have limitations, shortcomings and inadequacies, but the council does not deliberately and intentionally restrict the work of businesses and corporations.
Notwithstanding that, I wish to state the following:-
- The Mayor and City Council is the local government authority for the City of Georgetown. It is governed by laws, regulations and rules set out in the Municipal and District Councils Act, Chapter 28:01. All citizens, including corporations, are required to strictly adhere to these legal articles, and the council, through its various departments, is obliged to ensure the integrity of these laws and the general environment of the city.
- There are specific by-laws and regulations, which stipulate various procedures for building and allied works within the City of Georgetown; these cannot be disregarded by the council. The City Engineer’s Department – the agency responsible for all building works in the city – must faithfully enforce compliance with these by-laws. These by-laws include sections 3-9 of the Municipal and District Councils Act, which state:
“No person shall commence any building operations in the city unless he has given notice in writing of his intention so to do to the City Engineer on a form provided by the Council for that purpose and otherwise complies with the provisions of these by-laws.
“(1) No person shall erect a new building or alter or add to any existing building or execute any structural work to any building unless he shall lay over with such notice a plan of the new building or of the alterations or additions to the existing building or of the structural work for approval by the City Engineer.
“(2) Every approval by the City Engineer of a plan shall be in writing at the foot of the plan approved.
“(3) Such plan shall be laid over in duplicate and shall comply with the following requirements—
(a) It shall state the purpose for which the building is intended to be used;
(b) It shall be drawn in ink on drawing paper or tracing linen of good quality to a scale of not less than one inch to every eight feet;
(c) It shall show the ground position and outline of the new building, the elevation and dimensions thereof and the distances of the walls from the boundary lines of the land on which it is proposed to erect the same and from every other building or erection on that land and, in the case of a new building of several storeys, it shall give particulars of every storey thereof;
(d) It shall show the position and dimensions of every water closet, gully, drain or other house connection on that lands;
(e) In the case of alterations or additions to an existing building, it shall show the position, outline and dimensions of every part of the alterations or additions intended to be made to the existing building and also comply with the requirements of sub-paragraphs (a), (b) and (d) of this by-law;
(f) It shall show any other reasonable particulars required by the City Engineer.
“Every person laying over a plan for approval shall furnish therewith a written description of the new building, or of the alteration or additions to be made to the existing building or other work to be executed, of the material of which it is to be constructed and a statement of the exact dimensions of the several parts of the building and of the mode of draining the land on which the building is to be erected or stands.
“Every such person shall in all cases furnish such other plans, sections, descriptions and information as may be required of him by the City Engineer.
“The City Engineer shall, within a reasonable time after the delivery to him of any notice, plan, sections or description of any work required by these by-laws, signify in writing his approval or disapproval of the building operations to the person proposing to execute the same.
“Every person who has received the City Engineer’s approval to commence building operations shall give seven days’ notice in writing to the City Engineer of his intention to commence such operations.
“Every person intending to execute any building operations or to cause the same to be executed shall, where any thoroughfare will be obstructed or rendered inconvenient by means of such operations—
(a) Before commencing the same, unless the City Engineer otherwise consents in writing, cause sufficient close-boarded boards or fences, to the satisfaction of the City Engineer, to be put up in order to separate the building where such operations are to be carried on from the thoroughfare;
(b) If the City Engineer so requires, make a convenient platform and handrail to serve as a footway for passengers outside of such board or fence;
(c) Continue such board or fence with such platform and handrail as aforesaid standing and in good
condition to the satisfaction of the City Engineer during such time as he may be required by the City Engineer so to do;
(d) Cause the same to be sufficiently lighted every night from sun-setting of the one day to sun-rising of the next succeeding day;
(e) Remove the same when required by the City Engineer.
“No person shall put any board or fence in such a way as to obstruct or impede the surface drainage over or through any thoroughfare.”
With respect to the specific case at hand, two applications were submitted for building works at Regent and Hincks Street, and Vlissengen Road by the Chairman of Edward Beharry and Company Limited in January, and March 2016, respectively. However, both plans were found to be not in order by the department. My information is that the scale to which the plans were drawn was incorrect and there was a worrying paucity of other relevant information.
(A) Plan # 10/2016 was submitted on the 14th January, 2016 in the name Basil Mahadeo for North American Life Insurance Company Ltd, for Beharry Restaurant Holding Inc – Lots 30 and 31, Regent and Hincks Streets, Robbstown, Georgetown, for internal alteration and change of use of part of the ground floor; that is from office to food restaurant.
This said plan, after it was submitted was sent to the City Public Health Department on 20th January, 2016, and returned on 25th January, 2016. It was placed in the ‘Plan Not in Order’ file, on 27th January, 2016, for additional information and copies of the plan.
The representative of the Company was informed.
The additional information and copies were submitted, in April 2016. As a result, the processing recommenced with the application being sent to the GWI on 7th April, 2016 and returned on 6th May, 2016. The Building Inspector examined the plan, on the 9th May, 2016 and forwarded it to the Supervisor Building Inspector, on the 12th May, 2016, and to the City Engineer on 13th May, 2016 and Central Housing and Planning Authority, on 18th May, 2016.
(B) Plan # 83/2016 was submitted on the 4th March, 2016 in the name of Beharry Restaurant Holdings for GBTI Property Holdings Inc, PP Lot X comprising Lots 8-9, sub lot
10 ‘B’ part of Lot 10 Vlissengen Road, Bel Air Park, Georgetown.
Upon submission, this application was forwarded to the City Public Health Department on 7th March, 2016 and returned on 16th March, 2016, where the said department identified some aspects for correction. These corrections were made with the plan being returned to that department on 10th May, 2016. It was returned to the City Engineer’s Department on 12th May, 2016. The Building Inspector reviewed it and sent the said plan on the 20th May, 2016 to the Supervisor Building Inspector. It was sent to the City Engineer on 20th May, 2016 and Central Housing and Planning Authority on 24th May, 2016.
Notwithstanding that, the company started to do alterations to the Nalico building situated at the junction of Regent and Hincks Streets, without the written permission of the City Engineer as required by the law.
Further, barriers were erected on a portion of the pavement of Hincks Street preventing citizens from accessing and using that particular facility and, in fact, forcing them on to the road which is already congested with vehicular traffic. Upon receiving complaints from citizens about the inconvenience posed by those encumbrances, I enquired from the department about that particular situation. I was informed that no permission was given by the City Engineer to erect the barriers there. As a consequence, those barriers were removed.
Once the plans and documents have been approved by Central Housing and Planning Authority, they would be returned to council for its approval and then signed off by the Town Clerk.
We, at City Hall, have to secure the integrity of the public’s health and the safety of local communities and the city, by ensuring that all citizens comply with all of the by-laws of the City of Georgetown. Even if we were willing to do otherwise, we are constrained by the laws to honour our statutory duties without fear or favour, affection or ill will.
Yours faithfully,
Royston King
Town Clerk
