IT MATTERS TO MARIA: Weston landowner in limbo

DID Government get too excited when the Weston floods occurred?Stephen Griffith believes so, and he wants to know if Government still intends to acquire land in the area to protect the water course.Back in 1996, a few months after the Weston floods, Griffith said he received notification from Government that it intended to acquire over 11 000 square feet of land belonging to his family, which abuts the water course, in order to construct a wall to protect the course.However, the elderly man is upset that 15 years after this idea was proposed he is still locked in negotiations with Government. He charged that the reason for this was that what he had been offered was not only paltry but unrealistic.“There are two houses on the land – one is occupied by my nephew and the other is rented. Government has offered me $25 600 for the land. So I ask them where in Barbados am I going to get land for that money to rebuild the two houses? They do not even want to discuss any compensation for the properties. I said to them ‘give me a piece of land so that I can put the houses on’ and they tell me they can’t do that.”The man said he had the land valued and was given a price of $130 000 but Government has refused to pay him that amount.Griffith is now frustrated and angry.He said just before the flood he was in the process of subdividing the land and repairing the houses, one of which had no indoor toilet facilities.“When Government indicated that they were acquiring the land, I could not proceed with those plans anymore, and this is 15 years that we have a house rented out which we can’t do anything with.” Furthermore, he complained that he still had to pay the land taxes.“I believe that once Government indicates that it wants to acquire someone’s land that that person should no longer be required to pay taxes because you can’t do anything with the land,” he argued.The 80-year-old man said that his family lived on the spot for over 100 years. He said he was very familiar with the area and pointed out that it had never flooded until a landowner placed boulders on his property, thereby blocking the water course.“I believe that Government got excited because a life was lost and houses were destroyed but since then nothing has happened. For the last seven years I have been asking them if it is really necessary for them to acquire the land. If they do not want the land anymore, I would like them to say so, so that I can get on with the plans that we have. This has been going on for too long and it is giving me stress. It seems to me that they want me to die so that they would not have to give us a proper settlement.” He was also very critical of Government’s dealing with the matter.“They shouldn’t treat citizens like this. Government should be looking after its citizens. They shouldn’t try to frustrate them and beat them down. I am not trying to profit from this. I just want what is reasonable and fair.”When contacted, Dawn Myers, the Chief Legal Officer in the Ministry of Housing and Lands, explained that the delay in this matter was because of the valuations.She confirmed that Government had offered Griffith $25 000 but his independent valuation had countered with $130 000.Myers stated that Government could not proceed without agreement from the Commissioner of Land Tax.She however suggested that if Griffith wanted the acquisition abandoned he should write Government indicating such.