Planning Department

Overview
The KSAC is the Local Planning Authority for Kingston & St. Andrew and has responsibility to enforce Planning laws and regulations within its jurisdiction. Planning within the Municipality is guided by the following main pieces of legislations:

  1. Town & Country Planning (Kingston) Development Order, 1966
  2. Draft Kingston Development Order, 2008
  3. Town & Country Planning Act, 1957 (amended 1999)
  4. Town & Country Planning (Control of Advertisement) Regulation, 1978
  5. Natural Resources Conservation Act, 1999
  6. Local Improvement Act, 1918
  7. The Public Health Act, 1985
  8. Vision 2030 

The Planning Department is currently staffed by a Director of Planning, three (3) Field Officers, a Secretary, a Records officer and a Planning Coordinator (trainee). The main functions of the Department are summarized as follows:

  1. To promote the sustainable  social, physical and environmental development of KSA
  2. To facilitate the sustainable  development of land and resources
  3. To ensure that developments are in conformity with environmental management, public health, public safety and disaster mitigation standards and guidelines, and international best practices
  4. To manage the development applications process to ensure applications are dealt with speedily and efficiently
  5. To ensure that citizens adhere to development regulations 

The Department is responsible for processing Planning Applications with respect to developments (buildings and subdivisions), modification of restrictive covenants and enforcing breaches of the Planning regulations.
 
Operational Procedures – Development Applications

  1. Site inspection to ascertain appropriateness of proposal in terms of surroundings and to ensure accuracy of site
  2. In house assessment to ensure conformity with accepted planning standards e.g., zoning, density, setbacks, access, parking, layout, sewage disposal
  3. Collaboration with other agencies e.g. NEPA, NWA, Fire Department. It is mandatory that certain applications are referred to certain agencies
  4. Recommendation with conditions to the Building and Town Planning Committee
  5. If refused, applicant has the right to appeal to the Minister in charge of planning

Operational Procedures – Subdivision

  1. 10 lots and over, sent directly to NEPA which will be considered at Subdivision Committee and recommendations sent to KSAC than be reviewed and presented to Building and Town Planning Committee
  2. 9 lots and under – site visit, in house assessment, circulation to all relevant agencies, consideration at meeting of Technical Committee chaired by the Director of Planning, recommendations made to Building and Town Planning Committee with conditions
  3. Majority of applications are 9 lots and under

Operational Procedures – Billboards and Cell Sites

  1. Planning aspects of cell site applications dealt with by TCPA as per Telecommunications Guidelines, structural aspect considered by City Engineer
  2. In respect of Billboards; site inspection to ensure appropriateness of location and accuracy of site; safety and structural aspects considered by City Engineer. LPAs have no legal power to assess or rule on message being advertised. New guidelines for Advertisement are now being prepared and the Director of Planning is part of this team

Change of Use and Retention of Use

  1. These are decided on by the TCPA as set out by Section 12 of the TCP Act 1957.
  2. Applications submitted through the KSAC and our recommendations are sent with application to the TCPA
  3. TCPA on making a decision advises KSAC and the applicant
  4. Any modification or addition has to be approved by KSAC

Modification of Restrictive Covenants
Legal documents served on the KSAC are vetted for accuracy.
In-house records are checked to see whether any approvals were granted. These are then matched against the information contained in the Claim (legal document).
A site inspection is conducted to verify the information contained in the Claim documents and to provide information for the decision making process.
After the decision has been made, the Registrar (Supreme Court) and the applicant’s attorneys are advised. 

Enforcement

  1. Site inspection to verify alleged breach
  2. Warning letter
  3. Revisit
  4. Stop and Enforcement Notices. Offender has right to appeal to Minister in charge of planning
  5. Injunction
  6. Court Action

 
Contact us at:
24 Church Street, Kingston, Jamaica
Telephone: 967-0585/4195 ext. 267, 268, 269 and 294
Fax: 922-5072
Email: director.planning@ksac.gov.jm