By Rayon Dyer, Freelance WriterST. ELIZABETH:
TWO YEARS after the St. Elizabeth Parish Council started working on a development plan for Santa Cruz, the agency is yet to complete the planning stages of the project.
Speaking in an interview with The Gleaner on Friday, Director of Planning of the St. Elizabeth Parish Council, Delroy Brown, said that the development plan for the area was started two years ago. He said the plan will seek to address problems with traffic congestion in Santa Cruz and boundary settings among other things.
"So far, as part of the plan, we have completed a traffic survey, a study on the growth pattern, and the existing land use in the area, tourism and boundaries," Mr. Brown said. "I think it would make a difference, because the people of the area are themselves contributing to the formulation of the plan. They have the opportunity to say what they want and what they wish not to be included in the document."
Continuing Mr. Brown said, "I was hoping that a lot more residents would come out to the steering committee meeting, where they could make their contribution to the plan. I should also say that the Santa Cruz development plan would include most of the development aspects of the community, both commercial and domestic."
The Director of Planning also explained that while most of the preliminary studies and surveys were near completion, he had no idea when the document would be ready. He added that the work of the agency was made lighter because other agencies, such as the National Works Agency (NWA), the St. Elizabeth Parish Development Committee (PDC) and the National Water Commission (NWC) were on board, helping with the project.
