IN A bid to abate overdevelopment in the city, the Baguio City Council wants to stop the circumvention of building laws.
Councilor Benny Bomogao proposed a moratorium on the issuance of exemptions from the city land use plan and zoning ordinance.
"Study shows that the city has reached it carrying capacity in all facets be it demography, infrastructure development, traffic and transport and other aspects. This brought a negative impact on our ecology and the environs of the city. In particular, the unabated constrictions of commercial buildings on what used to be residential lands paved the way to the destruction of century old naturally grown trees which could have been preserved had not conversions or exemptions from our existing zoning and land use plan," Bomogao said.
The city law, now known as "An Ordinance Imposing a Moratorium on the Issuance of Exemption on from the zoning ordinance or the City Land Use Plan," was approved on first reading during Monday's regular session.
"The City Government as a regulatory agency has that responsibility to counter check the effects of these exemptions or variance on the utilization of lands covered in the zoning, thus the need to impose a moratorium save for valid reasons," Bomogao added.
If passed into a law, no locational clearances will be given when the intended construction will deviate from zoning ordinance of the city and likewise, no building permits will be issued on construction of any kind that would be inconsistent with the land use plan of a lot under the zoning ordinance.
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) reported the Baguio's land area of 5,700 hectares is composed of 1,400 hectares of watershed, forest, civil and military reservations with 700 tree while townsite, residential, central business district and commercial areas cover 4,300 hectares with 800 trees.
DENR added most of the remaining trees in the city are planted on private and titled land with a few resting on government lots, school compounds and road right of way.