Lavington residents have sued to stop the construction of a church in the area, saying the workers were causing pollution though noise and effluent discharge.
Through lawyer Wilfred Mutubwa, the residents say the construction of Lavington United Church is ongoing at a residential area when most of them are schooling and working at home, following government directives to control the Covid-19 pandemic.
They also say the development flouts the zoning requirements for the estate.
“The proposed development exceeds the permissible densities and heights which will irreversibly impact the local environment without any possible mitigation,” they say.
They want the court to suspend the environmental impact assessment license issued by the regulator on October 24 last year and the change of user approval issued by the county government.
The residents asked the court to further restrain the church from proceeding with the construction pending the hearing of the application.
According to court documents, the construction has also caused an increase in a traffic snarl-up along Ndoto and Margaret Kenyatta roads due to inadequate access and exit of the proposed project. The residents say it is risking their safety.
The petitioners claim that on June 9, 2018, the church called various residents to a meeting at their boardroom as part of the EIA survey.
At the meeting, residents raised concerns with the developer and the church. But their concerns were not addressed and neither did the church call for a follow-up meeting.
In April, the residents noticed that construction works were ongoing and found out that the National Environment Management Authority had issued the church with the EIA.
“The church is required to submit an Environmental Impact Assessment study report in order to acquire the EIA license as opposed to an EIA project report which is not sufficient to acquire the license in the circumstance,” they say.
The residents claim the project report relied on to grant the EIA license to the church is false and intended to mislead Nema.
“The plot numbers in the EIA license issued by Nema are not the same as the plot number of the project site in the change of user approval issued by the Nairobi city county,” read the documents.