Plans to develop 1 233 housing units on farm land of Altydgedacht wine estate have been met with shock by residents and Durbanville Heritage Society.
The piece of land of 260,25 ha is bordered by Race Course Road (becoming Tygerberg Valley Road) at the north, Tygerberg Valley Road on the east and Jip de Jager Avenue on the south east.
Guillaume Nel environmental consultants last week embarked on a public participation process as part of its application for environmental authorisation for the proposed mixed use housing development on portion 18 of farm 276 (Altydgedacht).
Residents must register as interested and affected parties before 15 December to comment.
Three-storey units
The proposed development will consist of commercial land uses, residential units, three-storey units and retirement units – totalling about 1 233 residential units.
An application for a water use licence will also be submitted to the department of water and sanitation in terms of the National Water Act for the associated water uses, according to the notice published in the media.
“Too much traffic, not enough road space for all these extra vehicles as families move in, so we moving out, see you soon Porterville,” was one resident’s comment on Facebook.
“Typical bad planning by the City of Cape Town, just like in Parklands and Table View. They allow buildings to take place without the necessary infrastructure being in place and then cause chaos later when they have to lift and widen the roads built a few years previous. Smacks of back handers if you ask me. Do the job twice and there is more money for those involved,” another commented.
According to Duminy Marais, acting chair of the Durbanville Heritage Society, the society “is very disappointed in the process and procedure followed”.
“We are concerned about the heritage of the farm, the buildings on the farm, the graveyard, as well as the future of the farmworkers who still lives there,” he said.
Farm atmosphere
“The farm has rich agricutural land with a lot of heritage. It will be disappointing to loose that to development, which is also out of the City’s urban edge. There must be strict guidelines regarding the heritage of the buildings on the farm,“ he said.
Denise Robinson, current chair who is recovering from an operation, says she wants to emphasize that “the graveyards of former inhabitants and workers and their houses should be preserved, as Jean Parker always wanted”.
Parker, owner and matriarch of Altydgedacht, passed away on 20 October 2021 at the age of 95 years.
“These are the people that built up the farm throughout the ages. The renosterveld areas that Jean maintained, should also be maintained and kept, also as many of the beautiful tree lined avenues and the areas with magnificent arum lilies.
“The housing development should not be too dense, but should maintain the lovely rural atmosphere with the peacocks calling as some of us have been privileged to enjoy over the past 45 years,” she says.
Eddie Andrews, deputy mayor and Mayco member for spatial planning and environment of the City of Cape Town, said on enquiry by TygerBurger the land proposed for development is located outside the urban edge.
Development not supported
“In terms of the Municipal Spatial Development Framework (2018) it is also located in the discouraged growth areas, meaning that urban development in these areas will, in general, not be supported from a spatial policy perspective,” he said.
The land has not been rezoned from agricultural to residential purposes. “It is important to note that this is the environmental process not the rezoning. Rezoning is not required before the environmental process is started,” he said.
No applications have been received by the City yet, he said.
Interested or people affected by the proposed development, can register to take part in the public participation process by sending an email with their name, contact details and reference number 20642 to cahlan@gnec.co.za by 15 December.
A copy of the documents currently under review has been available on www.gnec.co.za since last Friday. Contact Cahlan Williams on cahlan@gnec.co.za with enquiries.
