Tensions rise over development projects

The City of Cape Town has served a notice on the developer of the Beach Club in Hout Bay, ordering it to stop all in-filling in a disputed wetland area in the Disa River estuary and to remove all in-fill already placed within the 1:100 year flood plain. A Cape Argus report notes that two unsuccessful efforts were made the previous weekend to serve the notice on Don Hemphill, a Hout Bay-based director of the development company Really Useful Investments (Pty) Ltd. The city confirmed it was eventually served on the company's legal representative last Tuesday. The notice details alleged contraventions of the city's 2005 by-law relating to storm water management. The city's notice to the developer alleges that it has illegally changed the storm water system of the area by placing in-fill within the 1:100 year flood plain, and that this may cause flood levels to rise or a potential flood risk. The developer must stop any in-filling and dumping material and must remove material already introduced so the original ground level is restored, the city says. If the developer does not comply, it may be fined if convicted under the by-law, and if the city has to remove the in-fill material, it could have to pay the city's costs. Len Swimmer, an executive member of the Hout Bay & Llandudno Environment Conservation Group, who submitted the founding affidavit in the High Court case, welcomed the serving of the notice on the developer. He said he hoped the city would enforce its order. Full Cape Argus report (subscription needed) See Analysis

The developer of the Beach Club has previously been served with a compliance notice by provincial environmental authorities. The Cape Argus notes that this was after two inspections in January 2009 found illegal clearing and the removal of vegetation from the wetland. The department then ordered the developer, Really Useful Investments, to commission a construction-phase environmental management plan for the development from an independent consultant. The developer did so. This is the plan to which the province is holding the developer during the in-filling on the property, which critics say is occurring on wetlands, but which the developer says is fully approved and legal. The provincial Department of Environmental Affairs and Development Planning has explained how it changed its mind about this development, a situation that has deeply angered some Hout Bay residents and environmentalists. Full Cape Argus report (subscription needed)

Meanwhile violent incidents in the battle of Lagoon Bay, a proposed luxury housing development near George, are escalating. So far, a house has been petrol-bombed and burnt down, a pile of tyres stacked against the front door of another home and set alight, and wheel nuts allegedly removed from a car which subsequently swerved across a highway, says a Cape Times report. The Lagoon Bay Lifestyle Estate is a proposed golf course and luxury housing development on the southern Cape coast between Herold's Bay and Glentana. The provincial Department of Environmental Affairs and Development Planning turned the application down, but it was signed off by former MEC Pierre Uys. Now Western Cape Environment MEC Anton Bredell has to decide whether to approve the application for rezoning before the end of the month. The threat of renewed violence is there. Cornelius Esau, spokesperson for the George Leadership Forum, an organisation that represents the 'poor and unemployed', which is in favour of the development, is quoted in the report as saying: 'We are worried that at the end of the month, if the minister (Bredell) decides Lagoon Bay will not happen that the anger will spill over again. We've warned them, ''do not do this''.' Full Cape Times report (subscription needed)

Lagoon Bay developer Werner Roux has hit out at those who oppose his golf estate development, saying they are 'just five white, rich people who own holiday homes in Glentana'. He described the court action by the Cape Windlass Environmental Action group, to have Uys's approval of Lagoon Bay reviewed and set aside, as a 'witch-hunt' by 'a bunch of cowards'. He said the High Court case was 'useless litigation'. A Cape Times report quotes him as saying that Franklin Sonn and judge Nathan Erasmus had supported the project, as had several ministers. Roux said the poor stood to benefit from house sales because he had set up a community trust. Asked if he knew who was behind the arson attacks, Roux said: 'I know nothing about it.' Roux said he would be opposing the court action, filed in May, and would complete his answering papers 'next week'. Full Cape Times report (subscription needed)

The provincial Department of Environmental Affairs and Development Planning turned the application down because it did not comply with several provincial environmental and planning policies, says a Cape Times report. Independent consultants, commissioned to review the department's decision, concurred with it. About half of the development falls within the Outeniqua Sensitive Coastal Area, declared by the national government in 1996, where developments of this nature are not permitted. Water supply was another issue: the golf courses alone will use around 4m litres of water a day. Full Cape Times report (subscription needed)

And tension is brewing over a proposed housing development along the banks of the Kwelera River which has drawn sharp criticism from opponents who say it is a threat to the environment. A Daily Dispatch report quotes Ed Rathbone of the development company Areena Resort Trust (ART) who said that while there were 'troublemakers' opposed to the upmarket riverside development, many were in favour of it. 'Approval has been passed by the Development Facilitation Act, but we still need to get environmental approval, so there's a way to go,' he said. One of the opponents, environmentalist Alan Carter, labelled the Areena development as 'controversial'. 'It's a high-density development which is outside the urban edge of the Great Kei Municipality,' he said. Carter said the Draft Basic Assessment Report on the development prepared by Cape Town-based Resource Management Services was superficial and had not addressed various concerns, including the sewage risks, adequately. He warned that if given the go-ahead, the development would threaten the Kwelera estuary. Full Daily Dispatch report Development Facilitation Act

A row has broken out over a development on the south-eastern shores of Langebaan Lagoon, with residents calling in the provincial Green Scorpions after a front-end loader hacked away a strip of vegetation. The Cape Times notes that the land, Klein Oostewal, is the site where the proposed Shark Bay development was recently turned down by the provincial authorities because of the sensitivity of the vegetation and the proximity to the West Coast National Park. Residents opposed to the Shark Bay luxury housing development said they were shocked to see the owner had started clearing the land. Johan Ackron, convener of the Langebaan Action Group, said the Langebaan Ratepayers' Association had lodged a complaint with the provincial department of environment. Full Cape Times report (subscription needed)

Cape Town Mayor Dan Plato has confirmed his decision to abandon the city's Western Cape High Court review application to overturn the province's approval of the controversial Dassen-berg housing development, off Ou Kaapseweg. A report on the IoL site notes that Plato has been described as having been caught between the 'rock' of unequivocal legal opinion to give up the challenge and the 'very hard place' of trying to please voters strongly opposed to the planned development. The Far South Peninsula Community Forum, said last week: 'If Dassenberg is developed, it will stand as a monument to urban sprawl and toothless officialdom.' Plato's dilemma is then whether to proceed with the review and risk facing a possible charge of fruitless and wasteful expenditure in terms of the Municipal Finance Management Act if he lost - because he had acted against legal advice - or to face the wrath of voters who might otherwise have been expected to support the DA in the local government elections next month. He chose the latter. However, Dassenberg is not yet a done deal. The city has also refused to approve the developer's sub-division application, and an appeal has been made to planning and environment MEC Anton Bredell. Full report on the IoL site