A few weeks ago on this newscast, you hear residents of King's Park complaining about a high rise apartment building going up in their residential neighborhood.
Well, they got a town meeting with the mayor this evening at the Lopez Mateos Park to discuss proper zoning in the area. Belize City Mayor Darrel Bradley told us why a public meeting.
Darrell Bradley, Belize City Mayor
"We are dealing with the issue of zoning and one of the important things with zoning is that you have to make sure that you get consensus in relation to that being a community-led initiative. We've had consultations previously. I met with several groups of residents in the area who were really advocating for the zoning regulations. But its necessary and we did a lot of advertisement for this evening. It's necessary to give everyone their voice to say. Tonight what are going to be doing is we are going to leading a public forum, a discussion. We've circulated copies of the regulations. It's also on our website. We will have Miss Margaret Mckenzie who is the legal counsel for the Belize City Council do a presentation section by section. So that we go through all the sections of the regulations and we will allow for people to give their feedback and response which is proper government."
Emanuel Pech
"What is the goal in terms of the zoning?"
Darrell Bradley, Belize City Mayor
"I think that in terms of residence have a legitimate concern that their community may be encroach by commercial activity. The area that we are looking at is a small area of Caribbean Shores and the residents who want to ensure that that area is preserve as a residential area - that the character be maintained. I think that's a legitimate concern and we are taking that to the public. We already have the draft regulations. This is something that was developed by a previous council and was lead but a very active community group who is still intact. But we want to make sure that we have the widest possible buy-in before we move forward."
Mayor Bradley said that they intend to move forward with this zoning project in the spirit of consultation. However he hopes that after tonight's public meeting everyone will come to terms so the process can move on.
Bradley also noted that they are looking at a forensic analysis of the city as it relates to the regularization of City Zones.
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