Fellow Rotarian from the Sunrise Club, Hendrik-Jan van Ieperen, worked for the cities of Rotterdam and The Hague as a policy advisor prior to taking on the challenge of head associate of spatial planning for the Island Government of St. Maarten in 2007. Mr. van Ieperen gave an over view of the work that VROM does as well as a birds eye view of what the Island Government is working on with respect to zoning. According to Mr. van Ieperen VROM is a part of R.O.B. (Ruimtelijke Ordening en Beheer) which deals with everything that concerns the space that we live in on St. Maarten. Responsibilities of R.O.B. are among others, the maintenance of the infrastructure, Government buildings, Government land, physical development of the island, building permits and inspection. The VROM department deals with 'zoning' regulations. The existing regulations are based on the Zoning Ordinance of 1993, but other than Fort Amsterdam, zoning is rare on St. Maarten, although comprehensive zoning plans are being developed which can take up to 2-5 years. The objective is to have a policy that will guide the overall development of the island while offering economic benefits to it's people. Other regulations which are currently applied are the the Hillside Policy and the Beach policy, while a draft development plan has been prepared for the Lowlands area and approved by the Executive Council. USONA funds have been made available for zoning and the intention is to consult the general population in the development of these plans. Mr. van Ieperen concluded that he is convinced that with these development plans, taking St. Maarten, it's people and it's culture of land ownership into consideration, we will have proper regulations that will guide the growth of our island in a sustainable way.
The Rotary Club of St. Maarten had the pleasure of having a speaker from VROM make a presentation about the much talked about issue of zoning.
Fellow Rotarian from the Sunrise Club, Hendrik-Jan van Ieperen, worked for the cities of Rotterdam and The Hague as a policy advisor prior to taking on the challenge of head associate of spatial planning for the Island Government of St. Maarten in 2007. Mr. van Ieperen gave an over view of the work that VROM does as well as a birds eye view of what the Island Government is working on with respect to zoning. According to Mr. van Ieperen VROM is a part of R.O.B. (Ruimtelijke Ordening en Beheer) which deals with everything that concerns the space that we live in on St. Maarten. Responsibilities of R.O.B. are among others, the maintenance of the infrastructure, Government buildings, Government land, physical development of the island, building permits and inspection. The VROM department deals with 'zoning' regulations. The existing regulations are based on the Zoning Ordinance of 1993, but other than Fort Amsterdam, zoning is rare on St. Maarten, although comprehensive zoning plans are being developed which can take up to 2-5 years. The objective is to have a policy that will guide the overall development of the island while offering economic benefits to it's people. Other regulations which are currently applied are the the Hillside Policy and the Beach policy, while a draft development plan has been prepared for the Lowlands area and approved by the Executive Council. USONA funds have been made available for zoning and the intention is to consult the general population in the development of these plans. Mr. van Ieperen concluded that he is convinced that with these development plans, taking St. Maarten, it's people and it's culture of land ownership into consideration, we will have proper regulations that will guide the growth of our island in a sustainable way.