Hout and About

News from Residents’Association of Hout Bay

PO Box 27031, Hout Bay, 7872

October 2006

A SIGN OF ACTION!

Following our campaign to clean up signage and similar pollution in Hout Bay, as outlined in a recent Hout & About, we can report that Council has taken appropriate action against these infractions. Readers will remember that we were campaigning for the removal of the illegal sign at the Kronendal Retirement Village on Victoria Road along with obtrusive signage at the traffic circle entrance to IY and more recently obtrusive estate agent’s signs at a property on Valley Road.

After the application to erect the sign at Kronendal Retirement Village had been refused by Council and subsequently appealed, the estate agent still refused to remove the sign which resulted in our appealing to the Chairman of the agency’s licensor company, Mr Samuel Seeff, to intervene. Although we received an e-mail from Seeff’s Managing Director promising that they would look into the matter, little else was done by them. We eventually received a detailed letter from the licensee of Seeff Hout Bay, Mr Fritz Sonnenberg, which outlined numerous reasons why he felt that he was able to retain the sign, in spite of the Council expressly advising him that the sign should be removed pending the appeal. As of writing, the approval of the Kronendal Retirement Village project has still not been approved by Province. Notwithstanding this fact, the sign contravenes Council By-law as it is on a scenic route.

The day we received Mr Sonnenberg’s letter, we were informed in a telephone call from the official responsible for signage at the South Peninsula Administration that Magistrates’ Court summonses would be served imminently on both Seeff Hout Bay and the developer of the Kronendal Retirement Village project to remove the signs. Summonses are also to be served on Sotheby’s Estate Agency to remove the signs on Valley Road. A further Court hearing to have the signs removed at the IY traffic circle which was remanded, was due to be heard at the end of last month. In spite of the summonses none of the signs have yet been removed. We hope that the law will have taken its course by the time the next Hout & About is published.

Seeff will appear in Wynberg Magistrates' Court on 17 November, Sothebys on 10 November, ANC on 27 October and Mfunalwazi on 17 October all to answer the summonses to remove their signs. Seeff have applied for another billboard opposite the 7/11 on Main Road (Red Sails), a scenic route. This will be opposed by this Association.

In the meantime we were able to persuade a local company, Clearwater Pool Services, to remove their advertising trailer complete with swimming pool which recently appeared on Public Open Space at the corner of Main Road and Princess Street... In spite of using the public land for their advertising, after a friendly phone call to them they agreed to remove it. Full marks to this company for acting responsibly at the end of the day. Vehicles are often parked on this site illegally displaying “for sale” signs. After spotting 4 of these parked last weekend, Metro Police arrived promptly and ticketed them. In future such illegally parked vehicles will be towed at the owner’s expense and fines levied. The rental car which appears from time to time will hopefully be no more. Metro Police have promised to watch this area in the future.

If you see illegal, obtrusive or polutive signage in the run up to the tourist season, give us a call and we will gladly investigate and take appropriate action in our efforts to keep Hout Bay clean and tidy.

Draft Signage By-Law: This is being studied and comments will be submitted by the deadline of Tuesday 17 October 2006.

PLANNING UPDATE

We attended three interviews at the Council’s Planning and General Appeals Committee meeting on the 6 October 2006, and are pleased to report that sensible rulings were made in each case based on the officials’ recommendations and our input at the meeting. The issues deliberated on were as follows:

Erf 4851, 20 Earl Street (crn Albert): This erf lies in a single residential area immediately outside the ‘commercial’ area of the Victoria Ave Management Plan (VAMP) but it has limited commercial rights granted prior to the adoption of VAMP. As such, allowing added commercial rights will compromise VAMP and set a bad precedent for the area by encouraging commercial creep into the residential area. Previous similar applications for added rights for this erf had been refused on a number of occasions. It seems that SPELUM’s approval this last occasion (18 January) was motivated (wrongly, we believe) in the hope of settling this case once and for all, but it was against the official recommendation and local input. The appeals against the SPELUM approval were upheld and approval has been revoked.

Erf 186, 9 Victoria Ave: The applicant in this case appealed against a SPELUM decision on 15 February to refuse the application for a departure from the required parking allocation. Our Association counter appealed and thus supported the SPELUM refusal because we believe that it is very important to ensure the provision of sufficient parking for any development. To do otherwise would compromise the area and the public interest.

Erf 1492, Franciscus House, Main Road:

On 23 January 2006, SPELUM over-rode the officials’ recommendation that the subdivision of this erf be subject to a 1000 sq.m erf-size, instead of the 650 sq.m being applied for. We believe that the recommended minimum erf-size of 1000 sq.m was a generous compromise and are pleased to report that this was upheld by the Appeals committee.

SPELUM: We shall be attending a number of interview meetings with the Spatial Planning Environment and Land-Use Management (SPELUM) Committee on 18 October and hope to report positively in our next issue of Hout and About.

Erf 2774, 7 Mountain Street Hout Bay: Residents in this area have contacted the Association as they are concerned that the owner of this property, who has rented out these premises for many years, is now preparing the premises and converting it to a B&B/Guest House. As we have had no notice of any application in this regard, we asked the SPA to investigate.

We have been informed that the Building Inspector has issued notice for unauthorized building work on this property and that he is in the process of calling for legal action in this respect. In addition, the Land Use inspector reported that both he and the Town Planner have explained the process which must be followed by the owner to obtain permission to apply for a B&B. The legal action to be taken will be in terms of the National Building Regulations Act 103 of 1977 for Building items and Section 39 of the Land Use Planning Ordinance 1985 for land use matters.

Neighbours have indicated a number of misgivings (including parking and noise in their residential area) and have pointed out that they need to be timeously advised of such intended change in land use so they can comment if necessary. We encourage residents to go through the proper channels when undertaking new ventures which require permission in whatever form is applicable.

MEMBERSHIP

(R50 per couple, R30 per individual)

Forms from Chairperson or Library.

Please remember that your subscriptions were due at the beginning of March 2006. They may be paid electronically (use your full name as a reference on the payment – to ensure that we correctly credit your membership as this information appears on our Bank Statement.

Banking Details: First National Bank, Hout Bay Branch (branch code 204 009), Account name - Residents Association of Hout Bay, Account Number – 5345 1027 173. If you prefer, payment can also be dropped into our wooden box at the Library (next to the Hall doors) or posted to our Post Office Box: 27031 Hout Bay, 7872.

Len Swimmer

Chairperson, Residents’ Assoc of Hout Bay

Tel: 790-0268, Email: lens@telkomsa.net

Oct 2006