Philipsburg:-- “I am pleased that the media picked up on my inquiries regarding the amendment of the building ordinance which would provide the Island Government with the authority to have owners of severely derelict buildings repair these buildings or demolish them” says Island Councilmember Maria Buncamper-Molanus.
The DP Councilmember is concerned that no clear picture has been provided by the NA/Heyliger government regarding their intensions with respect to this specific proposal of amending the building ordinance. Buncamper-Molanus told the media during the Democratic Party press conference on Monday: “We heard from the NA/Heyliger Executive Council of their concern about the debris that a demolition of the dilapidated buildings at Mullet Bay would cause. It must be clear that the owners would be responsible for disposing of the debris”. The Council lady says that there are suggestions that the Executive Council can look into. One such suggestion is that the metal, especially the zinc roves could probably be taken to the scrap metal recycling plant next to the land fill. The concrete debris on the other hand, can be crushed and reused as currently is done by several contractors on the island. In fact, this crushed concrete is often used in the mixture of road foundation stabilizers. If that is not possible, the crushed concrete can be used to cover the landfill instead of using precious fill material that comes from excavation, which costs the government anywhere between USD 10 to USD 15 per m3.
Buncamper-Molanus says that while the DP faction certainly shares the concern of the NA/Heyliger Executive Council on this debris issue, one can conclude that this was already taken into consideration in the 2009 budget.
In fact chapter 8: Spatial Planning and Housing specifically mentions the issue of urbanization. “821 Stadsvernieuwing” states: To ensure rehabilitation, improvement, reclassification, or reorganization of developed areas on the island from a social economic, cultural, and environmental perspective. An amount of Fls. 22.500 (is reserved for expert advice for Hope Estate, FOGA and other districts. Another Fls 85.000 has also been reserved for legal and professional advice. Our suggestion to the NA/Heyliger Executive Council is to use part of this budget to have the draft amendments to the building ordinance made since the legal affairs department is unable to deal with this matter at the moment.
Councilmember Maria Buncamper-Molanus emphasized that the DP faction is cognizant of the fact that the legal affairs department is overwhelmed with issues directly related to the constitutional process, but obviously, this was already taken into consideration when the 2009 budget was prepared and approved.
We should as much as possible try to avoid introducing ad-hoc policies. It is evident that the Democratic Party Executive Council recognized this and therefore established in the Social Economic Initiatives (SEI) the project “St. Maarten Zoning”. The objective of this project is to establish spatial development regulations by means of zoning plans. These regulations will contribute toward sustainable economic development and provides a judicial, economic, infrastructural, and social framework for further development of St. Maarten.
However, while the SEI project is being prepared for execution it is important that we give the necessary attention to the required amendments to the building ordinance and not use the excuse that the SEI project is being developed to delay the amendments necessary for us to deal with the current situation of derelict buildings.
Buncamper-Molanus also points out the welcomed economic activity that the implementation of this ordinance can bring with it. This will demonstrate maturity on the part of our representatives. The approach to building this island must be a comprehensive one. While the Executive Council is making efforts to bring more visitors to St. Maarten equal effort must be made to improve the product these visitors are coming to”: concludes councilmember Maria Buncamper-Molanus.
