GOVERNMENT?has reached a settlement with two of the three displaced homeowners at Arch Cot Terrace, Brittons Hill, St Michael, whose houses sustained structural damage when a cave collapsed in 2007.
Attorney General Adriel Brathwaite confirmed the settlements, but said negotiations were continuing with the third party, and disclosed he had given instructions for them to be concluded so the houses could be demolished.
In the Arch Cot/ Brittons Hill study, commissioned by Government after the disaster, a recommendation was made for the houses on Lots 25, 17 and 16 to be demolished. The houses are close to the Shalom Apartment building which collapsed into the cave, killing a family of five.
Marva Fields, whose house at Lot 25 was next door to Shalom Apartments, said yesterday her attorney was still trying to finalize the settlement with Government.
She said the delay had nothing to do with the amount which had been offered but with the calculations in the property transfer tax.
However, she felt the negotiations had taken too long and that the two-storey house, whose garage had collapsed into the cave, should have been demolished a long time ago.
It also appears Government may have to consider a settlement with a fourth homeowner, whose house was deemed to be in the safe zone, but which is now showing signs of cracks and movement in the foundation.
Alvin “K.C.” Best, whose house is on Lot 26, told the SUNDAY?SUN it has been two years since the floor tiles had been buckling and his house showing signs of hairline cracks. He felt Government’s delay in demolishing Fields’ house was contributing to the instability of his home.
His fear was confirmed by Canadian geologist Professor Hans Machel, who examined Best’s house two weeks ago at his request.
Machel said yesterday investigators who carried out the study of the area had made a “premature recommendation” that Best’s house could be reoccupied.
He said the entire foundation of the house was under severe stress.
“There is severe strain in the foundation such that the floor tiles are buckling in waves,”?Machel said. “I would question the wisdom of the homeowner moving back into the building without doing a geotechnical study.”
Machel, visiting the area for the first time since 2009, was baffled why Government had not demolished the houses, particularly Lot 25, which he said was close to the cliff face and was causing movement in the ground.
Lot 25, he stated, “should have been torn down right after the cave collapsed in 2007” along with the remainder of Shalom Apartments.
Meanwhile, Gordon Bellamy, whose family house at Arch Cot was recently refurbished by Government, said he still had concerns about moving into the house.
Bellamy, who still resides at the Vauxhall Senior Citizens Home in Christ Church where several Arch Cot victims were housed after the disaster occurred, said he was still negotiating with Government.
While Bellamy’s home was not damaged during the disaster, it was raided by vandals. It has been refurbished and a gate placed at the back so occupants would not have to travel directly through Arch Cot Terrace.