Greeks bearing gifts?

No offense to Greeks of the Trojan War but, recently, a representative of one of the Shrine Hill Developers has several times offered its 1,700 meter down hill concrete road and drainage system to the City of Davao as a gift.

Inside this Trojan Horse is the risk transfer of high maintenance cost and man-made landslides costs to Davao City Taxpayers.

In addition, the transfer would likely reduce or eliminate Developer exposure to hillside remediation costs.

Those are costs that could be assessed to Developers for the return of Shrine Hill to its natural state, if the Development Permit is refused. Especially since the road was built without a Development Permit.

A requirement in many countries, the purpose of Remediation assessments is to discourage illegal or irresponsible construction and keep the costs and hazards to life and environment off the backs of Taxpayers.

Our own Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) will sometimes order the posting of Completion or Compliance Bonds to assure accomplishment for reforestation of mining and timber harvesting sites.

So, such a concept appears both legal and enforceable and might be extended in the case of a forested hillside subdivision. Or, the requirement might be extended to a subdivision that would interfere with existing drainage patterns, creeks and rivers because of excessive run-off and siltation or loss of wild life.

Certainly, the potential exposure of Developers to such requirements and costs provides the City with additional bargaining power to obtain compliance with Zoning and other laws as well.