The Plettenberg Bay/Bitou branch of the newly established Forum for Sustainable Development has described as "unacceptable" the department of the environment and development planning?s draft provincial spatial development framework (SDF).
In particular the forum is concerned about a proposed ban on freehold, sectional title or share block sales agreements outside urban areas.
The forum says the new rules would make property development in rural areas "not financially viable from a developer's perspective".
The Herald has a copy of the Bitou branch?s submission to the department. The provincial SDF is currently being finalised, and the final version of the new rules on development in the Western Cape will be presented to the provincial cabinet for approval.
It is expected that the document will be signed at the Provincial Environmental Summit in June.
The provincial SDF identifies vast tracts of land on the Garden Route as environmentally sensitive "core areas" in which no housing developments will be permitted.
The SDF places strict limitations on municipal planners and will have far-reaching implications for property development along the Garden Route.
The Bitou developers forum says the draft SDF imposes unacceptable conditions on property development outside the "urban edge".
It stipulates that there may be no freehold, sectional title or share block sales agreements.
The forum says that the only alternative left would be the creation of a rental market based on resorts and chalet-type developments outside the urban edge.
The forum says the Bitou branch "fully supports the principles underlying the draft provincial SDF and the recommendations contained therein".
But "certain fundamental issues" need to be addressed. One was that the draft SDF did not take into consideration the Bitou local economic development plan.
"This does not reflect well on the principle of co-operative governance and shared developmental objectives of provincial and local government, nor does it respect the national policy concerning the obligations of local government under the Systems Act".
The forum also says the draft SDF does not go far enough in defining the quality and sustainability of job creation, the need to determine proper levels of training, and the development of career paths for members of previously disadvantaged communities.
The forum also says that in its view developers have an obligation to support the community in terms of social housing.
"However, such houses should not represent charitable handouts but should be earned. We fully support the provision of such housing based on the number of stands sold in a particular development (ie 'a house for a house') or by means of a financial subsidy or developers' tax.
"The houses provided could be rented or sold (and a small bond provided). The money from this income stream could go into a trust operated by the municipality and used in other key areas, such as education and training," the forum says.
A number of property developers on the Garden Route formed the new forum to put their side of the case on the heated issue of property development along the environmentally sensitive South Cape coast.
Plettenberg Bay property developer and owner of the Plett flagship polo and hotel development Kurland Peter Behr told The Herald that the main purpose of the body was to fight back against a "flood of negative publicity" faced by developers recently.
Prominent Knysna-based Garden Route property developer Dr Chris Mulder is the chairman of both the Knysna and Plettenberg Bay branches of the forum.
The Bitou branch of the forum?s committee of four members are Mulder, Behr, Andrew Endean (one of the developers of the proposed new 700-unit Hanglip golf estate east of Plett), and William Edwards, a landowner in the Crags.
Eastern Province Herald
Publisher: Eastern Province Herald
Source: Inet Bridge
