BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – OWEN ISAAC, who is better known as Bingo, complains to anyone who will listen about the abandoned house right across from him. People have been using the bushy premises on Sebastian Street in Newtown as an illegal dumping ground for years.
This property is just one of 26 buildings that have become unoccupied and dilapidated in the Newtown area in recent years.
An Environmental Health Department Progress Report as of October states that 12 of those unoccupied buildings in Newtown have been demolished totally; one building has been demolished partially, and another one has been repaired and rented by its owner.
Indeed, there are owners who monitor their unoccupied properties and work accordingly with the Environmental Health Department. However, not every owner is forthcoming.
Elton Morton, the Chief Environmental Health Officer in the Environmental Health Department (EHD), said the last he heard is that the owner of the house next to Isaac is somewhere in the Dutch Caribbean Islands. He added that steps are being made to locate her exact whereabouts.
As for Isaac, he has been waiting years now for effective action to be taken.
“People have been throwing all kinds of filthy stuff on the land,” Isaac said over the phone about the premises next door.
He added that, “They throw garbage like disposable diapers; all kinds of nasty things. Up to last night [October 8], the scent that was coming from there smelled like silt or something like that.”
Isaac said he has complained to the Environmental Health Department a couple of times. The Chief Environmental Health Officer in the EHD acknowledges this.
“The Department sent someone here and got it cleaned up, but then it grew back again,” Isaac said.
Morton said that about two years ago the EHD enlisted the help of another department in the Ministry of Health to clean the premises.
That department – the Parks and Beaches Unit – worked overtime for two weeks, clearing trash and cutting trees in the yard. A tractor hauled the debris all the way from Sebastian Street in Newtown to the Conaree Landfill Site.
“That cost a lot of money,” said Morton. According to him, the Parks and Beaches Unit presented his Department with a bill that fell somewhere in the region of $1 500.
The owner would have footed the bill, if they were able to find her.
With regular cleanups being costly, Morton said his Department plans to demolish this roofless, abandoned house that is beyond repair. Very soon, they will post a 30-day demolition notice on the structure across from Isaac’s house.
Morton points out that the Environmental Health Department does not recommend for every dilapidated, unoccupied house to be demolished. He said that, as long as such houses could be repaired, they normally advise owners to fix and rent out the properties.
Otherwise, these houses likely will attract dumpers, hoarders and looters.
Lower down on Sebastian Street
Collin Fergus lives eight houses down from the abandoned property on Sebastian Street.
The house right next to Fergus also is unoccupied. He said of this one: “The other day, I saw people pushing their way inside the gate.”
Fergus told SKNVibes that people go inside the yard regularly to pick trees bearing breadfruit, fig and guava, as well as Aloe plants.
He said that, “Sometimes the noise [from people picking the trees and plants] sounds strange because nobody lives there. You keep wondering what’s going on.”
Fergus added: “Another thing is that there are a lot of house break-ins, violence and shootings happening. Sometimes people might think that they can hide stuff in that area once they can get in.”
“But I think the house is properly bolted,” he said after a pause.
You bolt it up yet…
SKNVibes spoke with a homeowner who knows all too well that bolting an unoccupied property is not enough.
“You bolt it up and the next time you come back it’s another story,” said the Kittitian doctor who lives abroad.
Two weeks ago, SKNVibes conducted an investigation and found that law enforcement agencies have recovered a ‘Wanted’ fugitive and a dead body in two unoccupied buildings. They continue to find illegal items such as drugs and guns stashed inside such properties.
“I’m making arrangements for my building [in Basseterre] to be demolished for that very reason,” said the man who spoke briefly with SKNVibes on the condition of anonymity.
