Davao City — Environmental groups are pushing for a win-win solution to protect Shrine Hills while providing private developers returns for their investments through the adoption of the privately-owned publicly open spaces (POPOS) concept in the City’s Zoning Ordinance.
Ecoteneo and Interface Development Interventions (IDIS), NGO members of the Local Zoning Review Committee, along with Davao Shrine Hills Advocates (DSHA) and members of the Sustainable Davao Movement, have proposed amendments to the Urban Ecological Enhancement Sub-Zone provision of the city’s Zoning Ordinance.
The proposal endorsed was due for plenary presentation in the City Council session last March 9 but was reverted back to the committee level with the directive to ensure attendance of Shrine Hills land developers who were no-shows during the last hearings. The committee hearing with Shrine Hills land developers has been moved to April 11, 2018 Wednesday at the SP Session Hall.
IDIS Executive Director Chinkie Peliño-Golle explained that the reclassification of the 222-hectare private property into an Urban Ecological Enhancement Sub-zone (UEESZ) in 2015 does not mean total loss for developers who invested in the area. In fact, turning Shrine Hills into public open spaces such as ecotourism parks, canopy and hilltop walks, and bike lanes can be profitable for the landowners while contributing to the city’s need for green spaces given its increasing population.
While the POPOS concept is used in other green cities, Save Shrine Hills advocate Arnold Vandenbroeck warned that “experiences around the world have shown that POPOS can be abused or misused when landowners/developers receive exorbitant bonuses while their contribution to creating publicly accessible land has been minimal.”
Vandenbroeck, along the rest of the environmental groups, are proposing amendments to ensure this won’t happen in Davao City. Instead, exemptions and bonuses are proposed to encourage developers in actively participating in the greening of the city’s urban environment but not at the expense of public interest. fpn
Examples of incentives for private developers who will adopt POPOS include additional floor space credit for their residential developments and residential components within mixed use/hotel developments outside the Urban Ecological Enhancement Sub-zone (UEESZ), provided these are in line with the floor area ratio or building height limit.
Another bonus proposed is an exemption to ground floor area calculations aimed to encourage developers to build greener, social and tropical features into their structures such as innovative green rooftops, communal gardens, sky terraces, and balconies as done by sustainable cities such as Singapore, Malaysia and South Korea.
“The additional sky-rise greenery can combat the effects of urban heat island effect, reduce flooding impacts, mitigate urban noise, provide habitat for urban wildlife, and most importantly improve the quality of life within our urban environments,” said Architect Jim Palma, who proposed the Shrine Hills development models.
Five years after Shrine Hills was declared as UEESZ, the ordinance is still on hold for implementation given the lack of Implementing Rules and Regulations. Environmental groups point to this delay and gap in policy implementation as one of the causes why both private and government projects pushed through which resulted in a series of landslideslastyear. The groups await consideration of their proposed amendments and final approval of the Shrine Hills section in the city’s Zoning Ordinance for its immediate implementation.
Media Contacts:
ARNOLD VANDENBROECK
Save Shrine Hills Movement/ Sustainable Davao Movement Member
Arnoldvandenbroeck@gmail.com / 09185156245
ARCH. JOHN IMMANUEL PALMA
Ateneo de Davao University
Jim_ferret@yahoo.com / 09328571383
ATTY. MARK PEÑALVER
Interface Development Interventions Inc.
Mark.penalver@idisphil.org / 09494478167