The Development Control Authority has finally demanded the Saint Lucia Development Fund restore the building it currently occupies at Coubaril to its original condition before the works undertaken to facilitate its conversion “within three months of the date of this letter.”
The building, which includes a swimming pool, was the home of Mr. Malcolm Charles until its recent acquisition by the Kenny Anthony government.
The authority offered four main reasons for rejecting the SSDF’s application for the retention of the use of the commercial development located at Block 06479D at Coubaril: 1) The existing office use is a departure from the predominant residential land use within the Coubaril area and obscures the essential character of the area; 2) The existing commercial land use of offices presents an intensification of use in an area that is predominantly single family residential. This has resulted in an increase in vehicular traffic in this low-density area; 3) The commercial land use is in violation of the restrictive covenant for lands that fall within the development scheme; 4) Current use of the pedestrian access, bus shelter and parking area along the Millennium Highway poses a threat to traffic management along the highway.
Meanwhile reliable sources have assured the STAR that the SSDF never had DCA approval to set up business at its present location, which is just one of the reasons a group of Coubaril residents sought the court’s assistance in setting up a judicial review of the situation.
Months after the group’s application to the court, indeed just one day before the matter came before a judge, the DCA ordered the SSDF to restore the building they’ve been occupying for several months now to its original residential state.
On Thursday the court found the DCA responsible for the whole fiasco, having made no attempt whatsoever to stop the SSDF from the get-go. The department was ordered to pay costs to the complaining Coubaril residents!
Something finally seems to be going right in St. Lucia, and justice appears to be on the upswing. I wonder though if the people complaining and going before the courts for similar reasons were from shantytown or ravine tou trel or the likes the results would be the same.