A legal battle is looming over the decision by the owner of Mae’s Private School, David Sugrim, to construct prefab buildings on the community ground in Subyanville to house students who were displaced last March after a devastating fire destroyed the school’s building.
In wake of the fire, the Georgetown Mayor and City Council had granted the school approval to set up tents on the Farnum Ground to house the students for a period of one year.
However, without the approval of the Council or the residents of Subryanville, Mae’s went ahead and began to construct prefab buildings on the ground. Now, the residents are up in arms, and are threatening legal action.
Today, the City Works Committee met to deliberate on the issue. Its recommendation will be put to the full Council in the coming days for a vote.
City Mayor Alfred Mentore, who attended that meeting, told News Source the Council’s decision will be made known by Monday.
He said, however, were it up to him, he would have granted permission for the school to use the ground temporarily within the original time span agreed – March 2025-March 2026.
“My thing is that education is one thing, residents is another but I believe that kids and their education should trump the benefits of the overall residents. I am saying that the school has been there for 30 years or there about, they have had the use of the ground or the section of the ground, 25% of the ground, the other 75% of the ground is there for the entire community to use, to play and enjoy. This matter, this transaction is a temporary one, this is an issue where we will lock and tie the gentleman, if all things work well, into the commitment that he has and the commitment to stay put to the original arrangement, that is temporary,” the Mayor said.
Noting that he has a soft spot for children’s education, Mentore said he is concerned that children could be displaced if the issue is not resolved amicably. He said there could be a “win-win” situation for all.
Mentore explained that when disaster struck last March, the Council immediately sprung into action, and without hesitation granted the school approval to use the ground temporarily at no charge, but under certain conditions.
He said prior to the fire, the school was using the ground for many years for sports and other recreational activities, and there would be no issue granting approval for temporary use.
“The part of the ground that we are talking about is an area that was always enjoyed by the Mae’s School, where the people in the community would have given permission or no objection for Mae’s to use the ground,” he explained.
He said though approval was given, it was made clear that the arrangement was only temporary, and permission was only granted for the use of tents.
On Tuesday, residents complained that the Council never consulted with them on the use of the ground before granting approval to the owner of the school to use the facility. And for that, the Mayor apologized.
Today, he told reporters that the residents never complained up until now, but admitted that the owner of the school David Sugrim has breached his agreement with the Council.
Sugrim reportedly took a unilateral decision to erect the prefab buildings out of concern that the children were getting wet under the tents whenever it rains.
“He made his own arrangement to do something a little different to accommodate them in the new term. That was not brought to us; we didn’t have any information or application concerning that. It didn’t come to the city engineer, it didn’t come to me, it didn’t come to the Central Housing and Planning or no one knew of what was being done,” Mayor said.
He said upon learning of the erection of the prefab buildings, Sugrim was told of the infractions and instructed to apply to the Council and the Central Housing and Planning Authority for approval.
When News Source visited the Farnum Ground today, a number of the prefab buildings were already up, and several others were under construction. Sugrim was seen on site, assessing the work being done. However, when approached by News Source for a comment, he jumped in his car and left the scene.
Sugrim is also expected to submit an application to the authorities for a permanent structure to be built on the land where the school once stood.
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