Observer story forces KSAMC response

Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation (KSAMC) City Engineer Xavier Chevannes has sought to allay concerns among Manor Park residents who accuse the local authority of evading questions about a proposed multi-family development at 2 Broadway Close, Kingston 8, to which they object. Chevannes was responding to a Jamaica Observer report on the dispute last Friday highlighting the residents’ objection to any plans for a multi-family development in the area and their complaint that they have tried, without success, to get information from the city managers on the development. Repeated attempts by the Observer, before publication, to get a comment from the KSAMC had also been unsuccessful.

In a letter, which they shared with the Observer, the residents claim that people who live on Broadway Close, Broadway Road, Harrow Drive, and Waterworks Road are worried about the proposed development. we are in receipt of an application and we are in the process of setting up an objection meeting “The developers posted a notice of intention to build at 2 Broadway Close on July 6, 2026. Within 48 hours the Broadway Mews Association formally requested the plans.

The developer responded that the plans were in progress and would be provided once completed. Since then, there has been no further correspondence,” the residents said in the letter. “Despite multiple requests, the community has been left in the dark.

The developers were aware of the community’s interest within 48 hours of the notice going up. Yet they have chosen to ignore all subsequent requests for information,” the residents added. They claimed that when the community submitted a formal request for plans under the Access to Information Act, they were told it could take up to 60 days to receive them.

“The Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation informed residents they had only 35 days to file an objection. This creates an impossible situation where residents are being asked to object to a developer whose plans they have not seen, may not receive before the deadline, and which the developer has refused to share,” the residents claimed in the letter. According to the residents, unofficial sources have indicated that a five-storey building is planned for the area, but efforts to get the authorities to either confirm or deny this had failed.

But, according to Chevannes, there are no such plans.