Could the church solve Old Harbour’s parking problem?

Among concern citizens, finding solutions to this painstaking issue have been discussed ad nauseam. Heading into the Christmas season, DSP Damion Manderson, commander in charge at the Old Harbour Police Station said in a frustrating tone at a virtual community meeting that “it just doesn’t make any sense to drive come into a town where adequate parking doesn’t exist”.

A long term solution is certainly possible if the powers that be act now. However, finding an immediate fix is the real crux of the situation at the moment.
After a long extensive assessment trying to find answers one entity could offer a solution. The church.

Hebron Gospel Hall on South Street, The Holy Trinity Anglican Church on Darlington Drive and St Joseph’s Methodist Church situated on East Street are all centrally located in the town. All possess some amount of parking space that can be made available to the public, of course at a reasonable cost, provides convenience and security.

Add to that list, the Portmore Community College and the premises of the Member of Parliament and the issue of parking may be removed from our daily discourse permanently.

But is the church willing? The financial gain that can be derived from such a venture is profitable with monthly estimates in excess of half-a-million dollars.

It is something that has been under consideration for some time, rector at the Holy Trinity Anglican Church, Rev. Delroy Coley said in response to the question posed by Old Harbour News. 

“We didn’t plan to open it to the general public it was just between the two banks – NCB and Scotiabank – and to have their customers park there,” he disclosed during a recent interview. “We were exploring that actively.”

Pursuing such an ideal was never on the table for discussion, a senior figure at Hebron Gospel Hall said, arguing the space is very limited with roughly 10 vehicles able to park on its property simultaneously. An abutting plot of land, we learned, isn’t owned by the church but is utilized for parking during service and other special events. That arrangement is about to change soon, as the property is now under construction with what possibly seem to be a commercial enterprise. An affiliate under the Christian Brethren umbrella group, Hebron Gospel Hall has a strict modus operandi as a not-for-profit entity. It doesn’t practice fundraising events or any form of enterprising that would generate income or profit.

Would they therefore make their parking, albeit a very small space, free then? we asked.  It’s a matter Elder Richard Fflokes “doubt” very much the “members will support”.

As the unofficial capital of St Catherine South West, Old Harbour town serves a population of over 50,000 residents. In absence of a National Spatial Plan, Old Harbour is bursting at its seams already. The St Catherine Municipal Corporation estimates 200 persons on average became permanent residents of the community on an annual basis in the last decade, and that figure is likely to rise exponentially with more housing projects going up. Match those numbers for a town with radius about 400 metres, and the parking crisis could reach epic proportions.       

Usually the municipal police are in the town twice per week and are almost always certain to charge someone for illegal parking. With parking availability at a premium, motorists are sometimes prepared to take the risk, which oftentimes add to the traffic congestion. A motorist’s vehicle is usually clamped or worse towed. The Charge for being clamped is $2,500, while the owner would need to fork out no less than $15,000 in wrecker fee should their vehicle be impounded.

“We would have to see what the proposal is. I would not like to rule it out, but we would have to have a proposal in front of us and see like the terms of conditions, etc, and then as a church we would then decide if it is something we would like to do,” said pastor of the St Joseph’s Methodist Church Rev Nichola Glasgow, who has been in charge at Old Harbour roughly 18 months now. She’s unsure if such an idea was looked at before her time there, but is cognizant of the parking crisis in the area.

“As a church we always seek to be part of the solution,” Rev Glasgow said. “It is not just to point out the problem but we always try to be part of the solution, obviously taking in the pros and cons and what that would mean for the church.”

Chairman of the St Catherine Municipal Corporation Councillor Norman Scott said any commercial venture as it relates to public parking must get the necessary approvals from the local governing body.

“Anything to do with parking facilities for a fee transportation centre must be authorized by the local planning authority,” Scott, the mayor of Spanish Town, said in response. 

Mayor Scott further posited that it would have to be a “joint venture partnership between that entity and us. After they write to us we could have a MOU (memorandum of understanding) between both parties”.

Rev Coley, however, finds the mayor’s pronouncements disconcerting.

Said the Anglican priest: “It is interesting because we never thought about the parish council any at all because it has nothing to do with them

“The church doesn’t pay any taxes, and so maybe from that perspective they are saying that ‘well the church doesn’t pay any taxes so once you gonna go into things like that which is of a commercial nature’...

“But in terms of having a MOU, which seems to me that if you are going to do anything like that then ‘we have to get our cut’… they are not going to offer any security, they’re not going to offer any advantage… I can’t understand.”

Would going into any quasi enterprise change the nature of how church is defined? 

“We are seeing with Covid the survival of many churches will depend on how they pivot in response to (the pandemic) and how we also engage,” said Rev Coley. “Where we don’t have the normal revenue from members it affects what a lot of how our outreach would look like and therefore we have to look at other creative ways to do the same level of work and reach in the community”