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Wednesday 14 October 2015

CBRRA Comments to Neil Eybers CCT on Maidens Cove Development

05 October 2015

Mr Neil Eybers
City of Cape Town

Cape Town

Dear Mr Eybers

PROPOSED MAIDENS COVE VILLAGE DEVELOPMENT

As previously stated, the CBRRA continues to have serious concerns with regard to the manner in which this proposal is being driven, the lack of essential information which the City appears to be unwilling to furnish, the expanding scale and shifting parameters of the development since the initial public participation proposal earlier this year and the desirability, in the first instance, of developing an area that has been proclaimed as a scenic reserve and which forms an extension to the Table Mountain National Park (TMNP).
Again, even if this is part of the Mayor’s strategic development initiative, it is not in the public interest that political motivation for “better utilization” of City-owned land, with its narrow financial benefits for political agendas, be placed before reasoned town planning, environmental and public amenity considerations.

PROCESS AND PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

From the inception of this proposal - or at least when the public became aware of it - there appears to be an undue haste for this radical change to an area that is both sensitive in nature and precious to the environmental heritage of the area and the Table Mountain National Park in particular and the city of Cape Town as a whole.

The fact that no formal assessments as to the feasibility, viability, sustainability or desirability have been conducted indicates a proposal that is lacking in practicality but enjoying undue political backing. This is unacceptable as the political support speaks only to short-term financial benefit without the required technical, professional or public oversight that is so necessary to prevent the destruction of a rare and precious public amenity on the altar of political expediency.

With the wisdom of hindsight of the past few months, it has become patently clear that the City has not, in any way, taken public opinion, suggestions and proposals into account. There have been no responses to the various letters and submissions from the important stakeholders of Cape Town and the various revisions of the proposal have simply shown that the City is driven solely by its own vision, which, the various public meetings have shown, are certainly not shared by the public at large. Every single public meeting has indicated that the overwhelming majority of the citizens and ratepayers of Cape Town are not in favour of this proposal, even in its many forms and guises.

The City must accept that it is the custodian of a scarce and precious piece of land that is a proclaimed national monument and scenic reserve, an important sporting and recreation area, a sensitive botanical enclave and an a vital link between the mountain and coast. It is not merely a piece of land that is ripe for development and exploitation to satisfy the City’s financial budget.

It is unacceptable that the City pursues a course that will result in the expropriation of public land when the residents and ratepayers of the city are so vehemently opposed to such executive action.
The City is reminded of the ruling in the recent matter of the Camps Bay Bowling Club vs The City of Cape Town and 2 others (Case No: 7981/2015), where the Court was highly critical of the City’s attitude toward its constitutional duties regarding the disposal of public open spaces.

THE PRESERVATION OF MAIDENS COVE

It is common cause that the Maidens Cove area is considered as an historic heritage site by so many of the people of Cape Town, especially the previously disadvantaged.
This proposal clearly indicates that members of the public using this facility will now have to utilize the paid parking facilities and carry their picnic and beach necessities a considerable distance to Maidens Cove, which is both onerous and discriminatory.
Further, the City has been at pains to claim that the public access to Maidens Cove will remain. This purported undertaking is highly questionable, as not only will vehicular access to the area be curtailed - with a private cost-based option as the only alternative – the mere fact that this proposal envisions 34 bungalows, probably costing about R45m each, constructed along the perimeter of the public picnic and recreation area, does not bode well for the continued existence of this historic public amenity. Simply put, it is extremely unlikely that owners of such exclusive real estate will tolerate free public picnic facilities on their doorsteps for too long. That is just a fact of life, sadly.
In any event, the requirement of integrated urban inclusivity is unsustainable in this proposal.

LACK OF SHARED INFORMATION BY THE CITY

This has certainly been amongst the most worrying aspects of the entire process.
Repeated requests for information have been routinely ignored or summarily dismissed by the City. At the public meeting held at the Civic Centre on 19 September 2015, the City’s Mr David Marais twice refused to answer the very simple question of how this proposal came into existence in the first instance.
A request to have the reports of the various City line departments has also fallen on deaf ears. In any event, the alleged manipulation of these reports, to suit the Mayor’s requirements, needs independent investigation by, inter alia, the Public Protector.
The CBRRA has, as with other stakeholders, requested information that should have been freely shared by the City with the public. These lists are well documented and, in the main, unanswered.

IMPACT ASSESSMENTS

The CBRRA considers it reckless of the City to embark upon the sale of this land without having done the various statutory assessments (traffic, environmental, heritage etc) that would be required to complete the rezoning and other land use requirements necessary for the realization of the City’s proposal.
The City’s stock response to this problem has been that it will be the potential buyer’s responsibility to attend to these matters – and that if such assessments show that the proposal is unsuitable, then the sale will be void.

It is almost incredible that the City would expose its residents and ratepayers to such a controversial and emotional process that may simply come to naught and shows the sense of disregard that the Mayor has for the citizens of Cape Town.
Indeed, if the City are genuinely following an inclusive public participation process, then such assessments should be considered vital to the public being in a position to make meaningful inputs. The City’s modus operandi reveals that it is intent on only meeting the barest minimum requirement of a selective “box ticking” exercise, if that.




VALUE OF LAND

The problematic selling off of public land without development rights has been dealt with previously and remains a major stumbling block in the minds of the citizens of Cape Town.
Suffice to say; the City’s unwillingness to incur the relatively small expense of these assessments, which will increase the value of the land by many hundreds of millions of rand if successful, is both irrational and legally challengeable.


PROCUREMENT POLICY

Stauch Vorster Architects (SVA), as the design professionals, appear to have prepared their initial proposal prior to the City having decided to embark upon this purported public participation process. This is troubling from an administrative point and needs to be clarified.

BOTANICAL IMPACT

The City has made much of the biodiversity study that identified the Strandveld areas and the manner in which this small area would be protected. Whilst this may be laudable, it has ignored the Southern Coastal Forest that exists on most of the proposed site. This is unacceptable and will render any executive decision in this regard as legally suspect.

ALTERNATIVE PROPOSAL

The purported public participation process has produced many alternative proposals for the land, from leaving the land as is, to upgrading to a marine coastal park that preserves the unique Cape floral kingdom and onto a limited bungalow area extension. It is imperative that such a public participation process includes for various options and the “do nothing” alternative. It is again patently clear that the City has failed to even basically consider a proper approach to this matter and, as such, renders the whole process as falling to fail legally.

As previously stated, the CBRRA proposes that an environmentally friendly alternative be put forward. This option could well contain financial benefit for the City and its ratepayers – along the lines of the Green Point Biodiversity Park.
It is suggested that an interdisciplinary team of consultants be commissioned to prepare a proposal that considers the land in an environmentally sensitive manner with an emphasis of access to this land and the adjoining coastal waters by all citizens of, and visitors to, Cape Town.
Such a team should comprise an architectural and urban design component, assisted by a heritage practitioner and an environmental/landscape designer.

Any such proposal should have had, as its departure point, the basic question as to what do the citizens of Cape Town require or need. For the City to attempt to railroad a scheme through the system that is both financially and socially exclusive – and non beneficial to its citizens - is clearly contemptible.

It is essential that the City indicate to the residents and ratepayers of Cape Town that it is not simply attempting to maximize profits at public expense by selling off limited and finite assets to cover unsustainable operating costs and promote insensitive and ill-advised development. It is even more important that the City rids itself of the perception that it shows undue favour to the enrichment of wealthy developers at the cost of precious amenities that, once gone, can never be replaced.

If the City, as custodian of a very sensitive and protected parcel of public space cannot be trusted to ensure its survival, then who can?

Kind regards


CHRIS WILLEMSE
CHAIRPERSON



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