Residents Associations role in Building Plan Approvals in Kenya

Residents Associations role in Building Plan Approvals in Kenya.

Construction approval in Kenya is vested on Physical Planning departments within the County Government management.

The Physical Planners at the employ of County Governments are the ones mandated to make the architectural plan approval or disapproval.

Residents Associations.

Some residential areas have organized themselves and petitioned County Government to be involved in the architectural plan approval and change of use decision making by giving an Ok or Objection towards specific projects within their locales.

Areas such as Karen have the KARENGATA residents association that lobbies for particular construction developments in their neighborhood. Also the area between Juja and Ruiru in Mugutha, the residents association also lobbies and works together with the Juja Sub county government planning department in the architectural plan approval process.

https://www.businessdailyafrica.com/bd/economy/chinese-firm-construct-high-rise-karen-units-3307666

Physical Planner training.

Physical planners are trained in Town Planning at degree level. Previous Physical Planners were trained in a basic 1st degree such as architecture, survey , engineering then a further masters degree in Town Planning. This gave them expertise in decision making such as allowing the neighborhoods to grow with the ever increasing population growth. Issues such as sewerage, road size, off street parking, landscaping etc. were well adjudicated. Most of Nairobi zones had regulations that a developer must plant trees and permission was needed to cut trees in Nairobi outskirts such as Karen so as to maintain the green leafy environment friendly feel.

Schools would not be approved if they didn’t have sufficient play area which is instrumental for children’s intellectual growth.

Nairobi areas such as Kileleshwa and Lavington were reserved for low rise bungalows only. With popolation increase pressure, the bye laws were easened to allow for high rise apartments.

Karen area was restricted to 5 acre parcels with a single dwelling. This has now reduced to 0.5 acre parcel in most of Karen and 1 acre in a few selected areas such as around Westwood park in Karen .

Residents Associations decisions.

Residents associations decisions tend to be less scientific compared to decisions coming from trained town planners. This causes alot of unnecessary conflicts which end up in courts while others ending as criminal cases once the associations take matters into their own hands and either demolish, prevent access or harm the developers.

Kigali.

In Kigali City, architectural plan approvals are done by very highly trained town planers who have researched on the development and population growth trends and realized that since the city has a lot of swamps and steep hills which are not able to hold buildings, they are in future going to lack suitable land to host the growing population. To mitigate this, developers are encouraged to build vertically, with high rise building proposals encouraged. The more the floors, the easier it is for the development to be approved in Kigali. This is the opposite in Kenya where high rise developers are discouraged by resident associations and county planners, creating situations that push developers in a corner , forcing them to bribe their way through the approval processes.

Corruption.

Instead of Kenyan developers being encouraged to build higher floors like they do in Kigali, the county planners force the to scale down their buildings and only those with the ability to pay hefty bribes get allowed to build up.

Urban Sprawl.

The net effect is increase of urban sprawl into farmlands around the city as developers build to cater for the high population. Urban sprawl causes reduction in farmland surface area, like what is happening to the fertile Kiambu county farmlands that are slowly turning into concrete jungles.

Solution.

The well trained town planners will also be in a good position to ensure neighborhood associations are not surpassing their mandate and stalling the much needed developments without deep insight on the scientific methodologies that guide development control.

Architect Francis Gichuhi Kamau.

0721410684

gichuhi@a4architect.com