WESTERN BUREAU:
CUSTOS OF Trelawny, Roylan Barrett, who is also chairman of the Falmouth Restoration Company (FRC), is displeased with the Urban Development Corporation (UDC) and has decided to ignore its executive chairman Dr. Vin Lawrence.
The FRC would like to refurbish an abandoned, vandalised building at Union Wharf, Falmouth, to use as an office from which it could direct more effectively the development of Falmouth into a heritage town.
However, the UDC, which has jurisdiction over the building, has so far refused permission despite nearly two years of talks. Meantime, the building is falling further into disrepair.
"We need the place badly, so we can continue the momentum to restore Falmouth. We want it to establish a Town Office, where we can house a town manager with a competent secretary. In addition, there would be a computerised data gathering area and one or two other volunteers," Mr. Barrett said.
He estimates it would cost between $3 and $4 million to repair the building. He recalls the building last being used in the early 1980s, when rum from Long Pond was stored at Union Wharf.
In addition to gathering and packaging historical data, Mr. Barrett conceives the proposed office housing a body to disseminate information and organise persons to create marketable products. It would also supervise any work pertaining to the heritage of Greater Falmouth, including street cleaning and beautification projects.
"We saw this building 'mash down' and heard that it was under the management of the UDC. We approached them in late 1998 and they came. We urged them to send another team of people, I sent a team of people and they talked again. On the day of the Prayer Breakfast in Montego Bay last year (August) another team came. They said they want to do a developmental study of the area and we told them no - we have studies already."
So the Custos tried dealing directly with the head of the agency, Dr. Lawrence.
"He replied that we can't get the place now and we should see if we could get a place from the churches, but if we wanted we could meet with him. So I wrote to him to ask what he wants us to meet with him for and he replied to say this..." Mr. Barrett said.
Dr. Lawrence's letter summoned the Custos and his team to Kingston for yet more talks. But, Mr. Barrett said he had no intention of trekking off to yet another meeting, having had four of them already.
His plan is to go to the highest level to secure the building.
"First of all, Dr. Lawrence himself don't even know the building... We are going to approach the Prime Minister and invite him down here," Mr. Barrett said.
The FRC, which encompasses organisations such as the Trelawny Parish Council, the Falmouth Restoration Group and the Trelawny Chamber of Commerce and Industry, is spearheading agency for the coastal town's expansion and development.
A $500,000 grant from the Environmental Foundation of Jamaica (EFJ) was used to refurbish the Compound Housing Scheme, while a further $2 million grant went into restoring 16 small houses in Grass Piece, Falmouth.
In addition, the Hurricane Gilbert-ravaged Falmouth Market was repaired and the late Henry Ive's Trelawny Restoration Group fixed the 204-year-old St. Peter's Anglican Church clock with funds from a group in England.
A weighty tome entitled a 'Pre-feasibility study for the Restoration of Greater Falmouth' came in 1998's Christmas stocking at a price tag of US$100,000. Having done this, they next step is a full feasibility study to cost US$1 million.
It is while the Office of the Prime Minister is assisting in seeking funding for it, that they want to keep the ball rolling with the establishment of the Town Office.
And, Mr. Barrett is determined that the restoration of Falmouth as a heritage site, a mission he embarked on 20 years ago, must have a focal physical point.
"We want the place man, we want the place," he said.
