SaveHopeGardens Mona Heights Citizens Ass.

RE: HOPE GARDENS HOUSING SCHEME
The Mona Heights Citizens Association wishes to add its voice to the objections being raised by a wide cross-section of the public to the housing scheme being contemplated for the Hope Gardens lands.

Our views are:-

1. A suitable portion of this area should be left for expansion of the zoo which is presently not adequate even for the few animals we have and which has always been a source of delight to our children. The annual camp held there every year is an environmental and learning experience for children. What a joy and benefit it would be to them if there were more animals and a proper wetlands habitat which is quite feasible in this area due to its proximity to the Hope river.

2. The car parking area for local and overseas visitors to Hope Gardens and the zoo also needs to be enlarged to accommodate the growing motor vehicle density. If this is not done imagine the situation in a few years time with our burgeoning human and automobile populations.

3. With the introduction of more housing in this area the traffic congestion which we are already experiencing from Papine along Hope Road and into the City is bound to worsen. Far better that housing developments be undertaken to the East or West of Kingston where there is space for new roads accessing the city over the Long Mountain range, or through a redeveloped West Kingston; alternatively to a ring road which simply has to come about sooner of later.

4. Space should also be left for further expansion of the University of Technology which is fast outgrowing its presently allotted space. As at modern universities all over the World the campus and its faculties should be integrated with surrounding gardens and parks to provide the most conducive atmosphere for mental development and creativity. Before any decision is taken in relation to the subject scheme an envoy should be dispatched to York University in Toronto, for instance, to learn and observe modern concepts in this particular field.

5. Sewage disposal is also an increasingly serious problem. Already there are far too many absorption sewer pits serving housing developments in the Liguanea Plains. Wells are needed in the lower Kingston area by a number of manufacturers for their processing operations. The Kingston Icemaking Company for example could not possibly manufacture ice for the price at which it is selling if it had to purchase all its requirements from the National Water Commission. Although very sophisticated purification plant is being employed there is a limit of pollution to our underground streams that can be tolerated. Seprod, Caribbean Products and Desnoes & Geddes brewery are other cases in point. Again before any decision is taken to go ahead with this scheme a study by appropriately qualified (including local), professionals must be undertaken.

As an Association we join all those who are against reckless development of this particular area. We do not believe that housing schemes have any place in the small remaining parklands and recreational spaces available to our citizens now and the distant future.