St. James PC Approves Amended Building Plan for RIU Hotel

The St. James Parish Council, has approved an amended building plan for the new RIU Hotel, which was recently submitted by developers of the hotel located in Mahoe Bay, St. James.
The approval came during a special meeting, which was held at the Parish Council building on Wednesday (August 20).
This followed the serving of a prior stop order notice by the Council to the hotel, which was found to be in contravention of the Jamaica Civil Aviation Authority (JCAA) and the St. James Parish Council’s Building Regulations.
The Parish Council effectively carried out its responsibility in April of this year, by serving a stop notice on the development, after it was discovered that some buildings on the property were being constructed above the building height recommended by the Jamaica Civil Aviation Authority (JCAA), which stated that the maximum Above Ground Level and Above Means Sea Level, permitted for construction are 14.89 meters (48.6 feet) and 16.89 meters (55.4 feet) respectively.
This breach, added to the fact that the building plans supporting the development were not approved by the Council, led to the decision at the time, to serve the hotel’s developers with both stop and enforcement notices. Since that time, the developers have made changes to the physical structure and the building plans of the development, in an effort to comply with the JCAA’s building height recommendations and the Council’s building regulations.
During the meeting, officers of the Parish Council informed that all the necessary changes were carried out, as the completed fourth floor of the hotel’s main building was demolished and all other buildings located on the property that were previously above the recommended height, were modified to ensure compliance.
According to letters that were read at the meeting, both the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) and the Jamaica Civil Aviation Authority (JCAA), have completed their inspections of the property and are now satisfied that the modifications were in keeping with the stipulations that were handed down to the developers.
Meanwhile, Mayor of Montego Bay, Councillor Charles Sinclair, assured that the Council would continue to monitor the development to ensure full compliance until the project was completed.