KSAC Will Continue To Honour Approval Time – Mayor

Mayor of Kingston, Senator Councillor Angela Brown Burke, says efforts will continue to ensure that development applications submitted to the Kingston and St. Andrew Corporation (KSAC) are approved within the stipulated period of 90 days.

Speaking at a KSAC monthly meeting, at the Council’s offices in downtown Kingston on January 13, Mayor Brown Burke informed that the Council now boasts a 95 per cent approval rate for development applications submitted to the Council.

“We are going to continue to push for greater efficiency,” she said, and urged members of the public who are not experiencing this turn-a-round from the Council, to send a formal letter.

“If your applications are taking longer than what we are saying, do not hesitate to bring that to our attention. We want to track all applications that may be outside of the new standard of 90 days, to ensure that we keep raising the bar,” she said.

The Mayor emphasised that the Council is determined  “never to return to the days of backlog, and persons wondering why their applications are taking so long.”

Senator Brown Burke called on the Information Technology (IT) Department of the Council to make sure that the necessary technical support is in place to allow them to ensure that the necessary documentation can be processed within a timely manner.

“And, we must ensure that  the Application Management and Data Automation (AMANDA) functions as it should,  to allow clients to track the processing of their own applications online,” she said.

AMANDA is software designed to track and manage the development application process within several Councils across the island.

Implementation of the AMANDA software forms part of the Government’s efforts to achieve an effective local government system.