A Special Development Order has been granted for a multi-storey affordable housing complex at Southside, without a planning application ever being submitted.

The SDO, for the Bermuda Housing Corporation, means that those who wish to object to the 106-condominium development will not be able to make their views known.

Critics said yesterday it was another example of Government overriding the planning process.

Stuart Hayward, chairman of the Bermuda Environment and Sustainability Taskforce (BEST) said: "I'm distressed that it (the SDO) seems to be bypassing the process. This is similar as to what was done for Loughlands, where an SDO was granted without a Planning application being made.

During this period where the Government is really a caretaker Government, it raises a question as to whether this is appropriate conduct, and one must ask why something like this is being done at this period.

"If it is to enable the Government to catch up ground on its housing proposals then that just is not acceptable to trash the proper planning process for some political end.

"It should not be that there is one set of rules for the public and another for a caretaker Government. It's just not appropriate."

The SDO, for the Harbour View Village site in St. George's, is for 106 homes in seven multi-storey buildings at a maximum four storeys — 48 two-bedroom units of 1,000 square feet; 44 three-bedroom units of 1,300 square feet; 14 four-bedroom units of approximately 1,500 square feet.

The site features open spaces and play areas, and a "continuous pedestrian right of way bordering the site and Southside Road".

However, a building permit must first be submitted and the project must proceed in five phases: site clearance, site preparation and excavation works; infrastructure, foundation slabs, civil works and construction in three phases; landscaping, planting and completion of civil works.

Access points to Southside Road and St. David's Road must be approved by the Ministry of Works and Engineering, and the entire site landscaped.

The SDO adds "an application for planning permission based on final plan of subdivision shall be submitted for approval of the Development Applications Board prior to the issuance of occupancy certificates for the first completed phase of the Development".

Government has issued nine SDOs — ten including this one — since being re-elected in July 2003. Guidelines state an SDO should only be issued in cases of "strategic, national importance or priority".

Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of the Environment, Kevin Monkman, told The Royal Gazette yesterday that a direct application for an SDO was permitted under a provision of the Development and Planning Act 1974.

Mr. Monkman confirmed: "There was no planning application. They applied direct for an SDO."

He added the plans were a revision of those for the original affordable housing project under Bermuda Homes for People.

In June 2005, 98 lottery winners were promised two-bedroom and three-bedroom townhouses at a price of $199,000.

But Bermuda Homes for People became insolvent in September, 2005.

Other hurdles included protests from tenants on 12 acres of the site and the Bermuda Land Development Company then refusing to sell the land.

The BLDC eventually gave four acres, but it meant the townhouses had to be downsized.

The affordable housing promised to the lottery winners is currently two-and-a-half years late and may not be completed for at least another several months.

On May 31, Government carried out a ground-breaking ceremony at the plot in Southside but Housing Minister Sen. David Burch later admitted no planning permission had been granted and the lottery winners would have to wait up to another year for their homes, until summer 2008.

In July, he said construction was due to begin in September, following the removal of a 500,000 gallon underground diesel tank.

Yesterday Mr. Monkman, commenting on the SDO, said: "You can almost look at this as a revised planning application as it was part of the previous Bermuda Homes for People development. This facility is a smaller version."

Asked why the SDO was issued, he said: "It was primarily because it was a commitment on behalf of the Government to provide the housing which was to be provided for the Bermuda Homes for People, with the Bermuda Housing Corporation taking over that responsibility.

"They applied to the Minister for the SDO and she granted it as it fits in with the Government's plan for housing."

Asked whether that was justified as an SDO in the 'national interest', Mr. Monkman said "yes".

He said: "The Government had already committed to these homes and had a lottery for them at Bermuda Homes for People, so we had individuals successful in that lottery and this is a continuation of that project to see that those who had a commitment from Government, that that commitment was followed through on."