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Rob Munro
Posts:39
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| 02/18/2008 4:15 PM |
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BAIA SARDINIA UPDATE
We wish to update all those who so kindly gave us material and moral support in 2007 in our efforts to save Shark Bay (Klein Oesterwal) from the unwelcome attentions of yet another prospective developer.
The following key milestones have been achieved:
1. Following dune erosion caused by a broken pipe on the site late last year complaints were laid with the provincial department of Environmental Affairs and Development Planning in terms of Section 28 of the National Environmental Management Act (NEMA) against Dormell Properties based on their dereliction of their duty of care regarding the Klein Oesterwal property. These complaints have resulted in the issuing by DEA & DP of the relevant notice against the land owner and the requirement early this year that specified restoration of the site be undertaken and that specified stabilisation measures be introduced to prevent a recurrence. These requirements are testimony to the shared environmental concerns of Province and the force of NEMA regarding this property (which we share) and speak volumes of the commitment from many quarters to ensuring that it is responsibly managed;
2. The burst pipe incident that led to the erosion of the sensitive dune area behind Klein Oesterwal beach and the deposit of a plume of material in the lagoon raises the question of why these pipes are under pressure at all since there is no development in the area drawing water from the extended system now 15 years old and not maintained by the landowner. It also raises the question, of particular concern to local ratepayers, of who will be called upon to pay for the considerable water losses incurred over the many days the pipe was leaking on the property before it was repaired. Possibly the land owner was at the time too occupied with the erection of the razor wire barricades that still blight the otherwise beautiful views across the lagoon from this site to notice the damage that was being done to this environmentally sensitive area. The issue of water loss together with others relating to the same incident were referred to the Municipal Manager of Vredenburg/Saldanha in October 2007 and are now being pursued since they have thus far elicited no response;
3. Late in last year it transpired at a meeting of the Ratepayers' Association at which Mr Daan Visser, town planner in the Municipality was a guest speaker, that the Saldanha Bay Municipality as part of its scheduled spatial planning review was contemplating the redefinition of the southern urban edge of Langebaan. This would have meant the incorporation of the Klein Oesterwal / Baia Sardinia site within southern the urban edge of Langebaan. This gratuitous adjustment was immediately challenged amongst other things on the grounds that it would be inconsistent both with the spatial planning of Greater Saldanha and the philosophy underpinning the development application process - namely that the onus should be upon the developer to motivate for development rather than upon the community to motivate against it. After all, development of this site has been consistently opposed by the community for 25 years - what more can there be to say? We compliment the municipality for revising its position accordingly. The Baia Sardinia site thus remains firmly and positively outside the designated urban edge of Langebaan which has very definite implications in terms of the Provincial Spatial Development Framework (PSDF) for development of the site going forward.
4. Late in last year participating interests in Langebaan opposed to the Baia Sardinia development and supported by many citizens and businesses in the area briefed a legal team to advise on legal aspects relevant to the issue. The opinion obtained in December 2007 and shortly to be subjected to review by Senior Counsel confirms in every respect our initial position regarding this development, amongst other things that:
a. Dormell Properties does not have the necessary authority to subdivide and develop the property and indeed is in the process of seeking to obtain the necessary authorisations under LUPO. The land owner thus currently has no development rights in respect of the Klein Oesterwal property other than the right to apply for the necessary permissions;
b. Since the authorisations previously granted in or about 1990 by both Province and the Local Authority in respect of the Klein Oesterwal site were set aside by a court in 1992 as ultra vires and never reinstated, it follows that legally valid consequences may no longer flow from those decisions. The land is no longer "sub-divisional" land and accordingly the municipality may not grant permission to the developer to subdivide the property unless the land is rezoned from scratch to permit subdivision;
c. Listed activities contemplated in the regulations to NEMA and necessary for the carrying out of the development proposed by Messrs Dormell Properties cannot proceed without an environmental authorisation under NEMA. It is therefore not a matter of voluntary compliance with NEMA as claimed by Dormell Properties in their (Draft) Scoping Report but of obligatory
compliance with NEMA;
d. Any application for the rezoning or subdivision of the property should not be considered in the absence of a report on the environmental and heritage implications of the development; and
e. Province is not merely a "commenting" Authority as claimed in the Scoping Report in a selectively truncated EIA process to serve the application in accordance with the provincial Land Use Planning Ordinance (LUPO) but indeed is the Competent Authority that has actively to exercise the powers conferred on it by NEMA in advance of, and distinct from the contingent LUPO process.
So.... what does this all mean? Well, the application being used by the developer is yet to be approved and the basis of this application is already flawed. The developer is now in position of having to restore the damage cause to the area and upon reading the document, (it is going to be a long and expensive job) and that's just to restore the damage done.
We obviously are not going to place our cards on the table and have plenty of information, directives and more in our arsenal now! We will continue to pressure the local and provincial departments and agencies to ensure the appropriate routes are taken and will act in advance to stop any possible "under hand" moves that could be done.
Talk to you all soon and please send some emails of thanks to the Municipal Manager of Saldanha Bay for the excellent decision their Planning Department took regarding the Urban Edge! They need slaps on the back as well as the usual complaints!
Regards
Rob
PS - thanks again to all of those generous folks out there! You know who you are and on behalf of all of the objectors and concerned folks THANKS VERY MUCH! |
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