Failure of Camps Bay Marine Outfall Plant (MOP)

The temporary collapse of the Marine Outfall Plant (MOP) on Camps Bay beach has highlighted the problems around such operations, which have been repeatedly brought to the City’s attention over many years.

The chaos of this last weekend - and as will be the case in the days to follow - have been well documented on social media and in the press.

The absolute irony of the situation is that the City have reacted to the emergency with great speed and resources but fail to comprehend that when this MOP is repaired, it is simply pumping the same (millions) of litres of raw sewerage/day a few hundred meters further into the bay. This intolerable situation has been covered up by officials and politicians alike over the years.

High level scientific research by Stellenbosch University, UCT and UWC has confirmed that the MOP’s at Hout Bay, Camps Bay and Mouille Point are polluting the local coastal waters and destroying marine life. In fact, many species of marine organisms have already been destroyed.

The previous Mayco Member for Water and Waste Services concocted all sorts of excuses to ignore the science attached to these “dinosaur” plants, so the CBCRA sincerely hopes that the new incumbent, Dr Zahid Badroodien will take this matter seriously.

The City have encouraged - and benefitted financially from - massive development along the Atlantic Seaboard but fail to do any infrastructural upgrades on the sewerage system(s).

The disaster of the Potsdam Water Treatment Plant and the absolute pollution of the Milnerton Lagoon and riverine system is a case in point. In a matter of a few days, the City went from approving massive developments in the area to putting a total moratorium on any substantial developments. The local ratepayer organisations and scientific community had been warning of the impending catastrophe for years but the City remained deaf and blind to reality until it was too late.

The CBCRA has, for years, offered to work with the City in addressing this problem but has simply been ignored. One feasible solution would be to install an underground water treatment plant in the area between Glen Beach and Clifton. Modern plants are not visible above ground nor sources of smell and, once in place, say under the sports field in that area, the surface can return to a reasonable normal.

Now is the time for the City to enter into meaningful discussions with the community, as it is essential that the City and its citizens should be ensuring that our coastal waters are not polluted.

For years the City tried to “spin” the story that MOP’s are treatment plants. They are not! They simply macerate the raw sewerage and pump it out into the bay - for the sea tides to decide where the millions of litres of effluent finally wash ashore. 

It’s a disgrace!

Ratepayers’ action stops development in Camps Bay

By

 Shahied Joseph

Feb 3, 2022

Camps Bay residents have notched up a victory in their efforts to stop inappropriate development in their neighbourhood.

You can view the High Court interdict «HERE».

The Camps Bay and Clifton Ratepayers’ Association (CBCRA) took their fight to the High Court and their application to halt construction at 22 Sedgemoor Road, Camps Bay was successful.

                     Construction on this building in Camps Bay will not continue.

Justice Robert Henney heard the matter over two days last year, starting on December 13, and subsequently granted an interdict to stop any building work at Erf 2320.

The CBCRA argued that the approved building plans of the developer indicated that they allow for a building which is higher than what is allowed in terms of the local zoning scheme. While the developer argued to the contrary, the Court ruled in favour of the CBCRA.

In a statement released to the media, CBCRA said this could result in the demolition of the unlawful building work on the 990m2 property.

“We cannot have blocks of flats developed on small pieces of land in Camps Bay. If we allow this, Camps Bay will, within a few years, look no different from Sea Point or Green Point. We do not want Camps Bay to be a neighbourhood largely consisting of blocks of flats,” said Chris Willemse, the chairman of the CBCRA.

“Property values, the beauty of Camps Bay and the nature of a gardened neighbourhood, are important to local residents and ratepayers.

“It is the prevention of large numbers of blocks of flats that has, until now, made Camps Bay so attractive. Profits are important to developers so they will keep pushing for the development of more and more flats in Camps Bay, because flats can produce more profits than the development of houses. They will keep on with this, until they have ultimately destroyed the beauty of Camps Bay and its built environment. We will not allow this to happen,” he said.

The owner of the property, Adrienne Peretz, however, believes the judge was misinformed about both the plans and the height of the building and had “made a grievous error in our opinion in awarding the interdict”.

“The building is structurally complete and is 100% compliant with the plans and the heights and in every other respect and this has been independently verified by experts,” Ms Peretz said.

During the court hearing it was revealed that the developer’s approved zoning for the construction had previously lapsed. The zoning was then extended by a City official without any form of public participation, according to the CBCRA.

“Such conduct by City officials, to favour developers, is simply unacceptable. We have rights, which must also be respected. We have a duty to challenge such conduct of City officials, whenever and wherever it occurs. It is not acceptable that City officials collect rates and charges from ratepayers every month, but when it comes to decision-making, our rights are trampled,” said Mr Willemse.

Another view of 22 Sedgemoor Road in Camps Bay.

The City is aware of the High Court ruling, said Deputy Mayor Eddie Andrews, who is also the City’s mayoral committee member for spatial planning and environment. He added that the matter is under consideration but was sub judice so he could not comment further.

The CBCRA will apply to have the building plans of the developer set aside, and due to the nature of legal proceedings they expect it could take years.

However, Ms Peretz is hoping that construction will continue.

“Hopefully the truth will become apparent in the court review, and the building team and sub-contractors will be allowed to continue the finishes for what has been described and attested to as a world class building by leading estate agents,” she said.

This building would have housed four luxury apartments according to the billboard.

Article posted from The Atlantic Sun:

https://www.atlanticsun.co.za/news/ratepayers-action-stops-development-in-camps-bay-60593b7b-b0ff-4731-96ae-db6a48a133d1

High Court Interdict 22 Sedgemoor road, Camps Bay

 

CBCRA AGM - SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT REPORT

Through tremendous challenges of Covid, bringing endless lockdowns…along with Disaster Management Act restrictions…etc. we have persevered.

◦ Thanks A+ (Positive Action) TEAM…Counsillor Nicola Jowell, Social Development esp Fiona Bosch and team, SAPS (Warrent Officer Fortuin, Sgnt Bester), CPF team and Chair, Alan Marsh and Ryan Rudy…CBCSI (Sarah Meder in particular for her administrative support), Peter Cookson along with Fiona Bosch…they are actually the golden key to everything we do and the CBCRA team.

◦ 1 year ago we launched COMMUNITY STEWARD (Blue Bib team)…they have since successfully helped with catching criminals, motivating other homeless off streets, finding lost property etc. and become service ambassadors to community. We recently also launched Employability Skills Programme. Some Stewards have already moved into mainstream employment and independent living. We now require support for night shift Stewards especially for season and invite businesses and community to support this project.

◦ VACCINATION Day for our Homeless Community…DSD helped homeless people in the process to reintegrate/move off street.

◦ CORPORATE Sponsored (Mr Price) Beanies for Homeless Clients taking up Reintegration assistance.

◦ Community FUNDRAISING FOR FIREFIGHTERS and they in turn donated to Masiphumelele community (who had far more severe fires), through The Hebron Project.

◦ Community DONATION DRIVES (Shoes, Jackets, etc for Community Stewards, as well as crockery/cutlery/bedding etc. for those who successfully Reintegrate…E.g. Vernon who was on our streets two years ago has been our best ambassador for what’s possible with proper transformative support…from Fieldworker he is now House Father for Safe Space Bellville)

◦ Various OPERATIONS and INTERVENTIONS with SAPS/LE (incl. Victim Support Room makeover, Home makeover for local elderly CB community member, Spring Walk/teambuilding workshop, Breast Cancer Awareness/Zumba combined with Table Bay and Pinelands SAPS, International Mens Day)

◦ STREET KIDS focus…since most of our street children come from Kalksteenfontein we collaborate with Kalksteenfontein Primary and will launch various initiatives in 2022 to support kids to remain in school and off streets. Thanks also to Camps Bay Primary partnership for collecting and donating a huge amount of Sports Kit to Kalksteenfontein. The school is now proudly able to get more kids engaged in sport. Launching more programmes in Kalksteenfontein from February 2022 and invite businesses and community to support and get involved however they can. With one social worker for every three hundred kids facing trauma every day we have deep systemic challenges to support, especially if we are serious about transformation and reducing unemployment and homelessness.

◦ REBRANDING (launch soon) and formalized CwC as NPO…continue collaborative efforts across all stakeholders/forums etc and excited to do more in a full time capacity. Have had numerous requests from other commitments to adopt CwC model and strategy.

Thanks to our community for ongoing support. We value collaboration above everything and encourage ongoing responsible giving through our efforts.

Please CONTACT CommunitywhoCares@outlook.com for any questions, suggestions and concerns around Social Development in our community.

Theresa Massaglia

CwC Co-Founder

CBCRA (Social Development Portfolio) and CPF Exco

Board Member of Western Cape Street Children’s Forum (WCSCF)

CBCRA AGM 2021 Planning Report

I’ve highlighted a few current items but more information can be found on the website – or by contacting me directly.

• Hotel on the beachfront: The application for a 101-room hotel on the Place on the Bay site, which received 76 individual objections, was approved by the Municipal Planning tribunal. The CBCRA call to the community to assist in opposing this application received tremendous support and over R80k in donations. An extremely well-prepared appeal against this decision was placed before the Mayor and the appeal was partially upheld and partially dismissed. 

In essence the parking departure to allow 58 parking bays in lieu of over a hundred required was refused. We are currently in (very slow) discussions with the developer, who is clearly hoping that the City will remove parking requirements from the DMS. Our thanks to attorney Leon van Rensburg for his expertise in this matter.

• 5 The Meadway: 

This matter was heard in the Western Cape High Court late last year and all planning permission was set aside. Of course, the newly constructed building on the site has been interdicted from any further work or occupation. The objective now is to seek the demolition of certain illegal portions of the building, if the developer is not prepared to do voluntarily. The shocking conduct of certain City officials in facilitating the illegal work was highlighted to the Court and although also referred to the City, nothing came of it – as always. The CBCRA will be taking this up with the new mayor to see if he is willing to require the officials to conform to legality.

• 96 Camps Bay Drive: 

This matter is also a longstanding issue. A couple of years back, the CBCRA successfully applied to the High Court for an order setting aside the City-approved plans. The developer re-submitted plans to which the CBCRA and neighbours objected. 

As always, the MPT simply approved the new application and the CBCRA appealed this decision to the Mayor’s Planning Appeal Panel. 

The appeal was upheld and the MPT decision to approve the application was set aside. Again, we thank Leon van Rensburg for his strong legal appeal.

It would appear as if this developer is still not willing to meaningfully discuss the matter with the CBCRA and, no doubt, a third application will be submitted to the City. However, the CBCRA is not giving up the fight to limit the development in Camps Bay to residential homes and not allow flats.

• 22 Sedgemoor Rd: It would be difficult to miss the construction of the monstrous block of flats in Sedgemoor Rd. The CBCRA and  a few affected (and generous) neighbours have made an application to the Western Cape High Court to have the planning permission set aside and any further work on site ceased.

We will update this on the website.

• 23 Francolin Rd: The CBCRA was instrumental in bringing an application for the setting aside of the planning permission by the City for a 4-storey building at this address. The developer, probably sensing the inevitable, opted to settle by demolishing the entire top floor.

Again, we will raise the completely dubious planning permission, granted by the City officials, with the new mayor.

• In general, it would appear as if the MPT regard the praedial rights in our title deeds as mere annoyances and remove them at will. The CBCRA is researching the history of all applications to detail the arbitrary nature of the MPT’s actions. If the City shows no interest in this undermining of our property rights, we will consider a legal challenge.

Time will tell if the new mayor is receptive to the plight of the ratepayers of Cape Town.

Chris Willemse

Vice-Chair CBCRA

CBCRA AFS 2020

 CBCRA Annual Financial Statements 2020

Councillor Nicola Jowell's report at CBCRA AGM 2021

(Councillor Nicola Jowell's report at CBCRA AGM 2021 -As read by Richard Bendel, the chair, in Nicola's absence)

Nicola Jowell, Councillor of Ward 54

Dear Residents and members of the Camps Bay Ratepayers association

It is with great sadness that I cannot be there tonight to join your AGM and have conveyed by apologies to the committee. I am deeply grateful for the hard work and dedication shown by every member of the Camps Bay and Clifton Ratepayers Association. Having spent more than a decade as a volunteer on community groups and been on the executive of a ratepayers association myself I know the challenges that it comes with and the vast amount of volunteer time that is used in working to protect the interests of all residents in an area.

This has again been a challenging year and I look forward to a time when our reflections don’t start with this caveat! And we end the year again with the next round of the COVID-19 news of us entering the 4th wave in a couple of weeks and the discovery of Omicron both here and internationally. I would be remiss if I did not take the opportunity to appeal to every single resident of Camps Bay and Clifton to please heed the call from our President to get vaccinated. It is only through vaccinations that we will be able to fully protect ourselves, our loved ones and also the economic future and viability of our city and country.

The Council is currently getting back onto full swing with the formal inaugural meeting two weeks ago, the Mayoral Committee has been reappointed and we now look forward to the announcement of the oversight Portfolio Committee Chairpersons. The Sub-Councils and ward forums will however only be reinstated in the new year.

I urge residents to have their say and input into the development of the Integrated Development Plan (IDP) for the next 5 year term of office. The Public Participation process has started. Council does not usually allow for public participation to run over the festive season but an exemption as approved via special application in Council last week which was inevitable due to the late elections and crunch to have this approved for the next budgetary cycle. This means that the process has opened now and will close on the 7th January. The IDP is the primary strategic plan that will guide all planning and development in Cape Town over the next five years. The city needs your input on the community’s developmental needs and priorities. So I urge you to take some time to submit this. If you go to the website www.capetown.gov.za there is a link to the IDP on the main page under the “trending” section.

I would also urge you to give your input on changes to the off street parking requirements in areas that are now designated as Public transport zones. This affects Camps Bay as the MyCiti bus stops were included in the Public Transport maps earlier last year, whereas before this it only included the train stations. The inclusion in the maps means a considerable reduction or removal of the need to have off street parking provided. This came into effect last year but I challenged the issue with the Transport Department who made the changes until the process was halted but it is not off the table and they are now conducting this public participation process. It is important to understand that the rationale behind these changes are to continue to promote and encourage people away from dependence on vehicles and to use and challenge public transport but there are valid arguments around current density in this area and the need to possibly have a phased in approach to this strategy. The public participation for this closes on the 31st January and I would encourage you to ensure that you provide input on this.

I would like to thank everyone who made it out to vote on the 1st November in what was incredibly trying conditions. From the weather, COVID and the impossible situation at the Camps Bay Soccer Club where the IEC was overwhelmed due to technical issue, staff shortages and a venue far too small. I am very grateful for the support that you have given me and am ready to continue to take up and address the challenges that the community faces.

I look forward to a continued partnership with the Camps Bay and Clifton Ratepayers Association and also working with individual members of the community to tackle service delivery head on.

Many thanks 

Nicola