Chief Planner concern: Any agent can submit a plan to be approved
This was among the issues put forward by the Chief Planner, Marva Titley-Smith during the 2012 Standing Finance Committee (SFC) deliberations where she outlined various concerns of the department and stated that they are still guided by the 1972 Guidelines.
According to Mrs. Titley-Smith, the Planning Act was revised in 2004 but the guidelines are still from 1972. She told the SFC that the guidelines were outdated and should be brought up to speed. The Chief Planner further noted that if funds were not available to get the regulations drafted, her department would liase with the Attorney General’s Chambers as a way forward.
With currently no registration of architects or engineers in the Territory, any agent could submit an application for a plan to be approved and according to Mrs. Titley-Smith, it is a cause for concern.
She was at the time responding to Second District Representative Hon. J. Alvin Christopher who had enquired what percentage of applications were submitted by a qualified architect and what percentage was by homeowners who did not have professional qualification of an architect and whether they were still being approved under the 2005 Planning Act.
The Chief Planner explained that the current Act does not speak to who is qualified but once the regulations are put in place there would be a section enforcing the architect's qualification in order to submit a plan.
She further disclosed that the Public Works Department was working on putting a registry in place but not much progress was made up to that time. She had also said she couldn’t disclose at that time what percentage of applications submitted were from qualified architects and what were not as the qualifications upon submission varies. Mrs. Titley-Smith had also stated that the only requirement for someone to submit a plan was a Trade License.
Outdated guidelinesMeanwhile, Christopher enquired whether the 2004 Planning Act was enforced to which Mrs. Titley-Smith explained that the 2004 Planning Act was enacted in 2005, however, there were certain aspects that are not fully implemented such as the Regulations. She disclosed that none of its 13 Regulations have been put in place at the time of the SFC deliberations.
When asked by Christopher how does the T&CP monitor developments and make proper decisions without regulations in place to be guided accordingly, the Chief Planner reiterated that they are still guided by the 1972 guidelines and that the Planning Authority consist of various professionals with different disciplines that weigh in how a particular application is approached based on the person's expertise, economics, construction, fisheries, environment among others.
However, she cited the department’s biggest difficulty is responding to applications with the absence of an overall development plan for the territory.
Member for the Third District Hon. Julian Fraser RA, stated that neither the present Government, Governments past nor Governments to come could have a Minister that would devote the kind of attention that is necessary to make the legislation come to fruition especially in the case of planning.
Hon. Fraser suggested that another approach needed to be taken where the T&CP officers need to ensure that such issues are at the forefront at all times, so no matter which Government comes into play, it would understand the needs for those legislation. The third district representative further stated he admired the legislation of the US Virgin Islands and that T&CP should find a way to form a union with the neighbouring islands for the purpose of finding ways to learn from their practice.
Another concern that was raised by the Chief Planner was having only two inspectors to enforce and monitor developments for the entire Territory and while the post of Physical Planner II was advertised she said to date of the SFC deliberations it was still vacant.
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