Time running out for Jessville as talks with owners fail
Owners of the historic Jessville mansion in Pok Fu Lam have threatened to knock it down after a year-long negotiation with the government failed to give them economic incentives to preserve it, their consultant said.
This is the second time the owners have issued such a warning since May, when they demanded the government back their proposal to erect three multi-storey residential blocks surrounding Jessville.
The government was surprised at the news and noted it with regret, a Development Bureau spokeswoman said, adding that discussions were continuing but a consensus on the redevelopment density had yet to be reached.
Any development in Pok Fu Lam needed strong justification, and district councillors and neighbours were very sensitive towards bulky and tall buildings incompatible with the environment, she said.
'The doors for discussion with the owner remain fully open on the government side, with a view to achieving a preservation-cumdevelopment option,' she said.
The owner's redevelopment proposal was scheduled to be discussed by the Town Planning Board yesterday, but the owners withdrew it after meeting government officials the day before.
'Time has run out. [The owners] may now demolish the building,' the owner's planning consultant Ian Brownlee said. 'It's been two years, we have had numerous meetings, but the government is still considering, still covering up what they want.'
The 77-year-old structure, declared a proposed monument last year, was later denied that status after the government said it had an assurance from the owners the mansion would be kept as a residents' clubhouse allowing some public access.
It was later classified by the Antiquities Advisory Board as a grade 3 historic building, which gives it no legal protection.
The owners had proposed in two options to build three blocks of 13 to 27 storeys around Jessville. In one option, no extra land was needed but the towers closest to the mansion would only be a few metres away. In the other, the owners ask the government to allow them to extend the site to a green belt area.
Mr Brownlee said the government gave no incentives for either, but instead hinted at a reduction of the plot ratio, the formula that determines the density of the development. 'The objective of finding a balance between conservation and development was lost sight of in a bureaucratic paper chase,' he said.
Antiquities board member Ng Cho-nam doubted the owners' sincerity in preserving Jessville, and said the best opportunity was lost when it was deprived of monument status. Bernard Chan, appointed chairman yesterday, said he would not want to see Jessville go, but buying it out with public money would be unlikely to meet public support.
He believed a heritage trust should be set up as soon as possible to prevent a similar occurrence.
The advisory board in the future would engage the public before grading historic buildings, he continued, noting that the board's job had often fell short of public expectation.
The board, reshuffled, will see five new members: Lee Ho-yin, director of architectural conservation at Hong Kong University; Tracey Lu Lei-dan, an anthropologist at Chinese University; Billy So Kee-long, an historian at Chinese University; Anissa Chan Wong Lai-kuen, principal of St Paul's Co-educational College and Lilian Law Suk-kwan, director of the Boys' and Girls' Clubs Association.
