Donald Cameron, De Waterkant
I am writing to object to the proposed car park between Strand Street and the houses in Loader Street.
This will replace an established service road and adjacent parking to the houses by a 1 metre curtilage, and also tarmac over established leisure and parkland, used by De Waterkant and Bo-Kaap residents.
This access road would be removed and absorbed by the proposed car park.
(i) the City should not remove an established amenity (access road) from domestic housing without compensation.
(ii) the City consistently states that De Waterkant densification applications do not require parking (voiding MPBC requirements)
(iii) Strand Quarry has excellent public transport facilities
(iv) the value of Loader Street properties will drop by between 30% and 40% (loss of amenity, loss of rural/park outlook, replaced by noise and fumes)
(v) demand for parking arising from Strand Quarry development (sports) will be in the evening and weekends and visitors will use free parking in De Waterkant during this time.
This will exacerbate car congestion, noise, disturbance and crime in De Waterkant. Visitors will not use a paid-for car park if free parking is available
The proposal indicates that DWCA (De Waterkant Civic Association) supports the quarry proposal. This “support” needs to be discounted. Residents and DWCA members (I am a DWCA member) were not consulted and have not expressed support. On the contrary, I and others have written to DWCA on numerous occasions objecting to the association straying outside of its boundary remit and misrepresenting views of members and the community.
I believe that three individuals in the association engineered support with a personal agenda.
The quarry proposal is being used as a Trojan Horse by commercial interests to enable a car park that will be used by City workers on a paid-for basis during the day.This would be a money-spinner. The intention is also to free up the existing car parks on Beutengacht Street and the Caltex station for commercial development
Instead of the proposed car park, the Strand green area should be preserved and enhanced as a recreation facility , to preserve the tourist magnate of De Waterkant, a recreation facility for Bo-Kaap and De Waterkant residents (consider the Green Point Park) and a climate change mitigation initiative.
This could be an extension of the existing De Smit Street park. The time frame for response to this consultation is short. There is insufficient time to develop an outline development concept for a Strand Green park to benefit De Waterkant and Bo-Kaap.
However, the City should be clear that steps will be taken to:
(i) establish the position in common law preventing the City from taking steps to destroy value in high-end residential housing (the Loader Street houses)
(ii) independent valuation of the impact on house values if the current access road is removed and parkland beyond is replaced by a polluting car park. For illustration, the value of the houses from 1 Loader to 35 Loader are valued at a cumulative R300 million.
A 30% reduction of value resulting from this proposal will lead to a class action to recover at least R100 million damages from the City for loss of value (R90 million?) and disturbance, stress, anguish and mental health
(iv) there will be a legal demand to the City to cease claiming historic land which should be protected from expedient parking.
• Eddie Andrews, the City’s deputy mayor and mayoral committee member for spatial planning and environment, responds:
The City notes the letter.
An independent Environmental Practitioner is currently driving a public participation process (that commenced on August 22, 2024) about the draft Basic Assessment Report (BAR) which forms part of the statutory Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) related to the proposed redevelopment of the Strand Street Quarry site located on Strand Street between the historic Bo-Kaap and De Waterkant areas.
The proposed redevelopment will turn the quarry site into a multi-use community precinct that integrates sports, culture, economic activities and tourism together with municipal uses.
The 30-day commenting period for the draft BAR concludes on Wednesday September 25, 2024.
We advise all residents, interested and affected parties, to register and provide comments on the draft BAR, which can be accessed online at: https://ddec1-0-en-ctp.trendmicro.com:443/wis/clicktime/v1/query?url=www.strandstreetquarry.co.za&umid=74646ddc-1af2-4e81-a157-4479c4e06ca5&auth=2ad3eefb43d42e4af99fdc07ba99e48e7318d45f-4da9221747c1898eba09429a26a2cbbe64aa910b, or, to submit comments by hand at the Cape Town Central Library (1 Parade Street).
Apart from the EIA process, the public will also have the opportunity to submit their comments once the land use application is advertised for public comment. We will make the announcement once this process is to commence.
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