The Atlantic Sun
article “Progress on School expansion” dated 22 August refers.
For a considerable
time now, the Camps Bay Ratepayers and Residents Association (CBRRA) has been
attempting to assist the Camps Bay Preparatory School (CBPS) and the Camps Bay
Bowling Club (CBBC) to arrive at a workable compromise in respect of the
mutually beneficial use of the City land which is leased from the City by the
CBBC. While it is common cause, at first glance, that the CBPS is turning away
many applicants due to “lack of space” and the CBBC is perceived to be
unsustainable and is allegedly underutilizing its leased property area, the circumstances
surrounding the above conclusions need to be carefully examined in respect of
their accuracy.
The following is
common cause:
1. The CBBC
has been in existence in Camps Bay since 1920 and serves the Community by offering
a viable bowling club for its members and, at the same time, permitting its
premises to be used by a host of community-orientated activities, such as karate, Pilates, ballroom dancing, line
dancing, bridge club and various community activities such as a regular supper
club, wedding receptions, anniversary celebrations, committee and political
meetings etc.
Since the demise of the Civic Centre, this has been the only viable place
of assembly available to the public at large.
2. As
recently as March 2013, the City acknowledged the feasibility of the CBBC as a
bowling club and in addition as a multi-usage venue for the above community-based
activities as well as a meeting place for public meetings. It is wrong that the
CBBC should read of this major change of plan by the City through the press, as
it smacks of political interference.
3. Over the
period of its existing lease, the bowling club has, at its own cost, erected a
considerable amount of improvements on the property, running into millions of
rands, for which, if its lease is going to be peremptorily cancelled, it must
be compensated in full on a Quantity Surveyor’s current estimate of cost by the
new owner of the property.
4. The
presence of the bowling club in Camps Bay for many years has been a feature of
the central village area and of significant historical and architectural value,
which cannot be swept aside by a simple bureaucratic action without any public participation
by the relevant authorities whatsoever, and without reference to the Heritage
Western Cape Committee and a thorough EIA process. The clubhouse is the only place in Camps Bay, which has a record of many
generations of residents over an extended period, and, as such, has a
considerable historic value.
5. The
way Mayco Member (and deputy Mayor) Ald. Ian Nelson is being quoted, the
impression is given that the decision by the City to accept the Provincial
Government’s request for the land has been decided in the affirmative and that
the only real issue now at stake is to agree a market-related value.
This is a cause for
great concern by the CBRRA. It would appear as if City-owned land is simply
being expropriated without any due process and, more importantly, without
public participation. This land is zoned, in the main, as public open space,
which is a scarce resource given the developmental pressure on land in the
City.
6. Clearly, even
with the City’s apparent lack of concern for any form of public participation
and possibly coming to an agreement with the Province behind closed doors, there
is a long process of re-zoning and consideration of the title deed restrictions
that govern the 6 separate erven that make up this site.
In fact, the City’s
Director of Planning, Cheryl Walters, warns: ”In statutory terms a re-zoning
could take between four and seven months from the date of submission of a
completed application. This would exclude any potential rights of
appeal”.
This could possibly
extend the rezoning procedure to a few years.
The possibility of
the City unilaterally terminating its valid lease with the CBBC, completing the
re-zonings and other statutory processes and the CBPS moving onto the premises
by the beginning of 2014 is remote, to say the least.
The CBPS’s need for
additional expansion requirements is common cause.
The historical reasons
for the present situation result from the ongoing increase in the Camps Bay
population, which, after all, should be the primary reason for the school’s existence.
Without debating the merits or otherwise of admitting pupils from far or
adjoining suburbs in preference to Camps Bay pupils; the size of the school must always be able
to cope with this core pupil population.
With the above in mind,
CBBRA is convinced that this very valuable property is far too important for
restricted use and must be utilized by as much as is possible of the whole
population of Camps Bay.
CBRRA’s architects
have produced sketch plans that clearly indicate that a shared option could
work and that the time-line to assist the CBPS with additional space could be
dramatically reduced by following this route. The current large parking area
could easily be reduced, thereby making an area available for a playground
and/or a few classrooms. The proposal that 6000m2 be used for “sport and a
playground” is clearly unsustainable and wasteful in the extreme.
CBRRA will continue
to contribute positively to this sensitive matter in whatever manner possible,
in order that the entire population of Camps Bay can benefit equally from the
most effective broad use of what is undoubtedly, with the soccer field, the
most valuable piece of real estate in the village.
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