Minutes of Public Meeting

Held at The Rotunda, Camps Bay
Tuesday 16 March 2010

1 Attendance
Trudi Groenewald, chair
Members of CBRRA management committee
Cllr Marga Haywood
70 CBRRA members and members of the public as per attendance register attached.

2.Welcome
The chairman welcomed Cllr Hayward, Camps Bay Watch chairman Ian Merrington and ex CBRRA chairman Mr Mel Richter as well as all others present.

3. Approval of minutes
The minutes of the last CBRRA public meeting on 26 October 2009 were accepted as a true record, proposed Alma Horn, seconded Brenda Herbert, carried unanimously.

4. Chairpersons Reports
Trudi Groenewald
CBRRA Management Committee (Manco) had gained two new members, Richard Dames and Charles Wells. At the beginning of 2010 because of pressure of work she had asked to be allowed to withdraw as chair of CBRRA but had remained on Manco. Charles Wells had been elected chairman with John Powell as vice chairman.

There had been a meeting with the security sector – Camps Bay Watch, Camps Bay Community Police Forum, Camps Bay Community Security Initiative, to ensure liaison.

Events had been scrutinized by Brenda Herbert to ensure that the general Camps Bay community was not inconvenienced and that commercial interests were not allowed to dominate the beach. A liaison meeting had been held with the City’s Events Dept.

Environmental issues were ably dealt with by Johan van Papendorp and Richard Dames.

The Supreme Court of Appeal Bloemfontein had dismissed the case brought by CBRRA and PS Booksellers regarding a house partially built on the corner of Geneva Drive and Blinkwater Road. There would be a fuller report later in the evening. However, the chairman expressed particular thanks to three benefactors, Doug Cleland, J Copeland and Chris Willemse, who had provided interest free loans to the association in order to fight the case.

Dog Walking on Camps Bay Beach was a contentious subject. CBRRA planned to approach the City Council to bring in a new bylaw. Proposed: In summer up to 09.00 dogs could be walked off leash. From 09.00 to 18.00 dogs would be banned. From 18.00 onwards dogs could be walked on leash. In winter, dogs could be exercised up to 11.00 off leash and then for the rest of the day they could be walked on leash. This proposal would be posted on the CBRRA blog and the chair asked for feed back from the general public.

The chair thanked all the members of the Manco for their hard work and support.

The Bay Hotel was thanked for providing the venue for the meeting.

Trudi Groenewald then introduced Charles Wells as the new chairman of CBRRA who took the chair for the rest of the meeting.

Charles Wells
Introduced himself and stated that here was huge pressure on “the village of Camps Bay” from property developers. Chris Willemse and the rest of the planning sub committee were doing a sterling job.

Protection of heritage buildings was an important role of CBRRA, including a watchful eye on The Round House and Stones Cottages at the bottom of Geneva Drive.

There was an initiative to improve the Glen. There were plans for “greening” the suburb by tree planting.

The Council was under tremendous pressure from all areas for services but CBRRA worked hard to ensure that this area received its fair share. However, Mr Wells thanked the Council for efforts on beach cleansing.

Mr Wells stressed the importance of recruiting more members and urged the audience to go out and recruit their neighbours. A show of hands revealed that the majority at the meeting were already members. CBRRA represents the whole community of Camps Bay, it was a cause of concern that many would not make the commitment to join and actively support.

CBRRA was a major influence on positively influencing community spirit.

The full report of Mr Wells’ address is attached to these minutes and also posted on the CBRRA blog.

5. Cllr Maro Hayward

Questions from the Audience
5.1 5.2 5.3 Cllr Hayward pointed out the complex government in South Africa with National, Provincial and Local government. Often she has little influence on council officials who undermine the wishes of the local community. In particular the planners were constantly pushing for densification and development.

She pointed out that the Council had used ratepayers’ money to fight CBRRA in the Supreme Court of Appeal Bloemfontein and she called for support from the community for the association.

Rates were discussed – she felt it unfair that home owners were taxed on home improvements by an increase in their rates.

It was claimed that the Council was not dealing fairly with rebates for low income ratepayers because they took donations from family into account. Cllr Hayward was not aware of this and promised to challenge the right of the Council to ask for such information on its application forms.

Concern was expressed on the proliferation of cellular phone and DSTV base stations including a proposal for such an installation on the Sonnekus apartment block. The Health Dept refutes that there is a health hazard.

From the audience, it was claimed that a house owner in Upper Tree Road was making a business of allowing numerous installations of base stations/aerials on his property. Cllr Hayward asked John Powell to investigate to ascertain the situation re land usage to see if the association could submit an objection to her.

6. Presentation on Recycling
Questions from the Audience
6.1 6.2 6.3
6.4 Bertie Lourens of Waste Plan On-Site Waste Management gave a presentation on recycling and what residents can do to help. City wide only 14% of waste is recycled. The scheme at Camps Bay started in November 2009 was part of a three year pilot project to find out type and volume of recyclable rubbish generated by various households. It would have to prove to be financially viable to go City wide.

Furniture and old computers could be collected by Waste Plan.
There was a pilot study starting in June on producing bio diesel from disposable nappies.
Some 7% of material collected by Waste Plan was thrown out.
At present there were no plans for special green bags for compostable waste but Waste Plan was looking at this.

7. July 2009 Municipal Rates Valuation
John Powell presented a detailed report on the latest municipal rates valuation which is attached to these minutes and is posted on the CBRRA blog.

8. High Court Case
Questions from the Audience
Chris Willemse, chair of the CBRRA planning sub committee, reported to the meeting.

House Corner of Geneva Drive and Blinkwater Road
CBRRA and PS Booksellers, the registered owner of a neighbouring property, had gone to the Supreme Court of Appeal Bloemfontein to appeal a decision by the Western Cape High Court accepting revised plans. The case had been lost. CBRRA and PS Booksellers were to petition the Constitutional Court to review the decision. The CBRRA legal team had agreed to work on a contingency basis.

Mr Willemse gave details on why CBRRA and its legal team believed the matter should be taken further. This included the fact that the Supreme Court seemed to read the case as a dispute between neighbours; that the City of Cape Town had joined against CBRRA on behalf of the developer because it believed important principles were at stake; and it was a matter of great importance not just to Camps Bay but to many other parts of Greater Cape Town.

After two lengthy and expensive court cases very little of legal importance had been decided. In particular, there was still no clarity on how to define the height of a building.

The interdict granted to CBRRA and PS Booksellers preventing further building was still in place.

Full details of the case and judgement are posted on the CBRRA blog.

Mr Willemse was asked about the financial implications of the unsuccessful appeal to the Supreme Court. He replied they could not be quantified. The chairman mentioned a figure of more than R1 million.

9. Planning
Chris Willemse reported.
CBRRA continued to broker agreements between neighbours and developers including servitudes. Since the last CBRRA public meeting in October 2009 they had negotiated over 20 agreements.

24 Geneva Drive - an interdict preventing further building was in place.

2 Woodhead Close – CBRRA is waiting for a decision from the co-applicants on whether or not they wished to proceed.

21 The Meadway - an interdict was in place. There were 21 affected neighbours. A review of plans was scheduled for 24 April 2016.

The Crystal, Woodford Avenue - CBRRA had attempted to negotiate with the developers and the Council for the past 17 months. The apartment block had been built without proper planning permission. Mr Willemse stated that to successfully challenge unsuitable development, it was necessary to have the money to take developers to court.

10. Financial Report
This was presented by John Powell from figures supplied by CBRRA treasurer Mary Lloyd.
Current bank balance was R27,000. CBRRA had outstanding debts totaling R127,500 including loans of R107,500 from the three people who financed the case to the Supreme Court of Appeal.

11. Heritage/Environment
Richard Dames reported on behalf of the heritage and environment sub committee.
All Camps Bay heritage buildings were in good order.

The Beach –CBRRA was trying to get the Council to allow companies such as Tuffy Black Bags and Wasteplan in conjunction with the Council’s solid waste dept to collect beach litter and recycle it. There was an endeavour to get the Dettol company to improve hygiene in beach ablution buildings. The state of the grass in front of the beach was in a deplorable state and meetings were being held with the Council. There was also liaison with the Council’s solid waste department and problems of litter, etc, were being addressed.

The Glen and its rejuvenation was a work in progress. CBRRA had been invited to join The Glen Advisory Body.

The Little Glen – Mr Dames had met with the City Parks department. CBRRA had asked for the stream to be cleared, benches repainted etc and for the security guard to be employed to clear litter.

The report presented by Mr Dames is attached to these minutes and is also posted on the CBRRA blog.

12. Miscellaneous Matters
12.1 12.2 12.3
At the public meeting in October 2009 the question of visual pollution by rotating metallic bird scarers had been raised but was still to be investigated.
Geneva Drive pavement was in a poor state of repair. CBRRA would contact the Council.
Pedestrian crossings were less than adequate – CBRRA would raise the matter with the Council.

13. The meeting closed at 21.30.