City needs detailed land use plan

The need to draft a Comprehensive Land Use Plan (CLUP) and a possible review of the Cuidad development project proposed by the Cebu provincial government are among the priority concerns of the newly appointed head of Cebu City’s Planning and Development Office.

Alipio Bacalso Jr. said the CLUP is vital for the growth of a Local Government Unit like Cebu City.

He said a CLUP identifies the city’s development priorities like what infrastructures and facilities are needed to respond to the growing needs of constituents.

“A CLUP is also the basis or reference in the issuance of permits and locational clearance for development projects,” he said.

Bacalso, who assumed as city planning officer on Monday, said he intends to come up with the Cebu City CLUP within the year.

This entails a review of the city’s zoning ordinance, he said.

Bacalso said that he also wanted to determine the viability of the Cuidad development project proposed along the Banilad-Talamban road in northern Cebu City.

He said there was a need to determine how the project would affect traffic in the northern corridor and to look into its classification as a friar land.

Mayor Michael Rama earlier asked City Traffic Operations and Management (Citom) chief Sylvan Jakosalem to look into the traffic concerns along the Ban-Tal road and determine if there was already a need to lift the moratorium on development projects in the area.

Bacalso said that he has not seen documents on the permit application for the development project. He has not also talked to Mayor Rama about it.

However, he said he intends to review the matter.

The project needed locational clearance from the city’s planning office and a building permit from the Office of the Building Official.

Bacalso said his office would have to determine if the Cuidad project conforms with the zoning and land use classification in its proposed location.

Also, there was a need to determine the type of development that the Capitol wanted to implement in the area.

He said a commercial subdivision type of development would require commercial subdivision permit.

A commercial subdivision type of development is a development project like the Cebu Business Park where property owner subdivides his property and sells these to investors.