Stalled by squatters

FALMOUTH, Trelawny — Squatters have taken over hundreds of acres of privately owned land across this parish, with approximately 58 acres of a 147.48-acre property at Flamingo Beach already illegally occupied, threatening to derail a major development for which a plan has been submitted to the Trelawny Municipal Corporation (TMC). Falmouth Mayor C Junior Gager, who on Thursday raised the alarm during the corporation’s regular monthly meeting, said the growing problem has resulted in the TMC being inundated with complaints from frustrated landowners. “We have had a number of landowners coming to the corporation to report instances where individuals have occupied and begun developing their properties without the owners’ permission,” Gager said.

He warned that the scale of the illegal occupation is undermining the development of the parish he described as having significant potential for growth. Gager said the situation at Flamingo Beach was particularly concerning. “There is a submitted plan here for that property that will help to build Trelawny, but we cannot proceed because there is this problem of squatting,” he bemoaned.

“Approximately 58 acres of [well-known attorney] Gordon Brown’s property has been illegally occupied,” Gager added. Efforts to get a comment from Brown were unsuccessful as, up to press time he did not return the phone call as promised. Meanwhile, according to the mayor, at another property in Flamingo Beach, 11 acres of a 57.6-acre parcel have also been informally settled.

Explaining the extent of the problem, he pointed to Cooper’s Pen in Trelawny — which recently made news headlines following the early-morning demolition of about 20 structures — where approximately 12 acres of the property have been informally occupied. Gager also referenced significant squatting on sections of 344.5 acres of land in an area called Tilston; Hague, where one acre has been informally settled; and Hague Cave Island, where four acres of the property have similarly been occupied. Gager, who is also chairman of the TMC, said squatters are relying on claims of adverse possession which, for privately owned land, is based on undisturbed occupation of at least 12 years.

Falmouth Mayor C Junior Gager speaking during Thursday’s regular monthly meeting of the Trelawny Municipal Corporation. (Photo: Horace Hines) “Once they get a little cut on it they try to say tha…