Landslide fear: St James residents worry over Fort George project

A multi-million-dollar real-estate development at Fort George, in St James has triggered fear among residents of Upper Bournes Road and surrounding streets of a potential devastating landslide which they claim could bury them in their homes.

The project restarted in January after the almost five-hectare site was graded and remained dormant for almost 15 years.

The land is owned by the Guardian Holdings Group and staff there has been given preference to buy the fully furnished condominium units which range from $1.7 million to almost $2 million in the first phase of the project.

During a visit to the community by a Sunday Newsday team last Thursday, residents expressed grave concern about the threat of a landslide as they claim the hill had been denuded of all vegetation and with the rainy season the loose earth can come crashing down in the valley, taking with it homes constructed on the hillside.

Long-time resident Victor Franklin, 66, who lives near the entrance to the development known as The View at Fort George, said he hoped the contractor would hurry up and finish the retaining walls around the property before the heavy rains come.

“It is not only dust but part of the mountain will come down,” he said.

Franklin said the contractors were not washing away the silt and dust from the roadway as they promised during a town meeting in January and pointed to the damaged road caused by the frequent movement of heavy equipment to and from the site.

Other residents, on either side of the development, at Rossland and Providence Road, also expressed similar concerns.

But one resident noted that every development must come with a level of inconvenience. He opined that the new project “would elevate the area.”

Environmental lobby group Fishermen and Friends of the Sea has also publicly called on the Environmental Management Authority (EMA), the Ministry of Planning and other relevant agencies to take proactive measures to prevent a potential disaster.

In response to questions from Sunday Newsday, the EMA said it was aware of the concerns raised regarding the housing development at Upper Bournes Road.

“The EMA conducted a site visit on Thursday 25th June, 2020 as part of an investigation to ascertain the potential impact arising from the development. The EMA will await the details arising out of its investigation to inform the authority’s next steps,” the organisation said in an e-mailed response.

Chairman of the Diego Martin Regional Corporation Symon de Nobrega told Sunday Newsday that he was aware of the concerns raised by the residents and the matter had been referred to the building inspector and the corporation's CEO for an investigation.

In a telephone interview on Saturday, de Nobrega said he understood the concerns by the residents but they may not be aware of the engineering and landscaping of the project. He recalled that the developer had made a presentation to the council and they were impressed by it.

De Nobrega said the corporation intends to monitor the development and that if there were new concerns or minor slips it would bring them to the attention of the contractor.

Developer: We have statutory approvals

On Friday, the real estate developers – Home Solutions Ltd – gave Sunday Newsday a guided tour of the project to identify the measures taken to prevent land slippage and reduce dust to homes in the community.

The company’s representative, Ronald Ammon, the main architect of the project, and construction manager Luke Thompson said they had been active in helping clean the homes of some residents as the volume of dust and silt from the project increased during the construction of reinforced perimeter walls on  the southern and northern boundaries of the site.

Thompson said they fast-tracked the construction of the retaining walls, as high as six metres in some areas, “to help deal with a bigger problem” of material from the site going into the homes of residents.

He said the land had been cleared by another contractor in 2005 as most trees and shrubs were removed. A line of bamboo clumps, on the western end, were left as a dust barrier.

In other areas, a line of silt fencing ran alongside the boundary on the southern end after the retaining wall. Many areas of the site were loose soil and rock as excavators levelled ten separate areas in tiers for the construction of the buildings and respective car parks. The developers intend to build five or six buildings in the first phase.

Ammon said the company was going through all the statutory approvals and had submitted drawings for approval by the Diego Martin Regional Corporation.

On the southern edge of the property, a temporary drain was carved out of the hillside and diverted across the property into a deep collection pond about halfway down the hillside. Another channel leads to the pond from the top of the southern side.

Ammon said when the pond overflows it falls into another channel below and filters off the northern side of the property into a drain along Providence Extension Road.

He said excavators on site would adjust and widen the drains if it became necessary during heavy rainfall.

Ammon said the developers had made a significant change “out of concern for the residents” and moved the construction of building closer to the centre of the ridge rather than closer to the southern side of the hill, which overlooks the Gulf of Paria.

Both Ammon and Thompson acknowledged the concerns raised by the residents and said they intend to increase their communication and interaction with the community.

“We will be more proactive,” Ammon said.

The project is expected to be completed in three years and will eventually see the construction of 96 apartments in ten separate buildings on different tiers.

Ammon said the company will replant trees and grass on the entire project and admitted that out of the many undertaken across the country, the Fort George project was “more challenging” as it was being developed on a steep hill.

He said the units had already been sold out.

Commenting on the residents' concerns, CEO of the Guardian Group Ravi Tewari told Sunday Newsday in a phone interview on Saturday that the Guardian Group has been developing property for decades and "had a very good reputation in what they produce."

He said: "We will never do anything that will jeopardise either what we construct or any neighbouring property."

Tewari said that was critical and the company only engages the best engineering firms and Home Solutions had a sterling reputation.

"Now that you have raised it, we will liaise with the Home Solutions and make sure we take a look at engineering and design," Tewari said.