A R293m eco-sensitive mixed-use development planned next to the Knysna golf course on George Rex Drive will, if approved by the authorities, offer a very special lifestyle in a community environment. The proposed development, designed to accommodate a wide spectrum of buyers, was announced to the media on 18 April.

Known provisionally as George Rex Place, the development will offer residents the opportunity to live, work and shop in their immediate neighbourhood. Following international design trends that are now being extensively applied in the US and Europe, all houses will be within five minutes from the centre and its offices, shops, restaurants and other leisure activities. The outer rim will consist of rehabilitated wetlands, open water bodies and landscaped parks. Wetlands will extend over more than 30% of the 19,4 ha site.

Dr Chris Mulder, who is responsible for the overall planning and design of George Rex Place, said the quickening growth of Knysna’s economy due to the increasing popularity of the Garden Route made forward-thinking urban planning essential.

“With sky-high energy costs an irreversible fact we have to become less dependent on automotive transport if we are to create a more efficient and environmentally sustainable living and working environment. Against that background the ‘walkable community’, where people can walk to shops and their places of work, becomes the ideal for the future. And that was our point of departure in the planning of George Rex Place.”

Dr Mulder, who was also responsible for the overall planning and design of Thesen Islands, Knysna’s showcase mixed-use development, said the site of the proposed George Rex Place was one of the town’s last large open spaces available for development.

“When the new owners acquired the property a year ago, it was a complete ecological disaster. It has been used for decades as a dumping site for wood waste and today close to 40 000 m³ of this waste covers large areas of the property, in places more than a metre deep. Through neglect it had also become totally invaded by alien vegetation while in winter it turns into a manmade swamp because of storm water from higher-lying areas damming up against the raised side of George Rex Drive.

“We decided to turn what was a problem of the site into its major feature by rehabilitating the freshwater wetlands and turning them into waterways that dissect and surround the planned development,” he said. These wetlands will also act as a comprehensive storm water management system.

The residential part will consist of about 56 single residential stands and about 78 double-storey units in addition to about 1,7 ha of retail space. The three-storey retail units will also provide for about 50 flats upstairs from the ground-floor shops which can be used either as offices or living space. The network of fairly narrow streets linking shaded parking areas will be both pedestrian and commuter friendly.

The shops will be mainly convenience stores serving the needs of both residents and people from the surrounding residential areas. “We expect medical doctors and other professional people to take up most of the available office space.”

Dr Mulder said in his view the project met all the requirements of the government’s triple bottom-line policy in terms of the environment, the community and economic sustainability. “We also tried, as far as possible, to meet the government’s desire for the densification of urban areas. Although our density of 10 dwelling units per ha is higher than the present norm, it is well short of the government’s requirement of 25 dw/ha. However, it must be kept in mind that more than 30% of the site will be given over to the new rehabilitated wetlands.”

The project would take six to eight years to complete should approval be granted and if so, was expected to benefit Knysna’s economy substantially for years to come.

“In addition to almost R300m in direct capital investment, Urban-Econ, the national firm of development economists tasked with determining the project’s socio-economic impact, calculates that during the construction phase it would generate new business sales of R756m. It would also create 1 635 new job opportunities – 878 on the construction site and 756 in industries providing goods, materials and services to the project,” Dr Mulder said.

“After the project has been completed, it would continue to provide, indefinitely, some 720 jobs of which 400 will be on-site and 320 off-site.

“I believe that in a town such as Knysna where unemployment is growing and more than 80% of the population live on less than R3 200 a month, job creation should be the highest consideration when evaluating projects that in all respects conform to the requirements set by the authorities. Construction and tourism are the two major drivers of the economy of the Southern Cape. Without them there cannot be adequate growth and a concomitant increase in the quality of life of the people living here.”

Mulder said copies of a background information document (BID) dealing with the proposed development had been mailed to all registered interested and affected parties (I&APs) as part of the public participation process. These parties had until 5 May to respond.                                                                             

Ends

ISSUED BY                            
De Kock Communications (DKC)

ON BEHALF OF                    
Chris Mulder Associates Inc (CMAI)

DATE ISSUED                       
18 April 2006

MEDIA ENQUIRIES               
Dr Chris Mulder, CMAI, 044 382 6732, 082 881 2903
Ben de Kock, DKC, 021 422 2690, 076 390 7725