SIMPIWE PILISO and AMUKELANI CHAUKE

JOBURG’S rapidly growing maze of cluster and townhouse complexes has sparked a standoff between the council and high-flyers at the Gauteng legislature.

Fed up with the Gauteng Development Tribunal’s authority to overturn rejected development applications, the council went to court this week.

Developments that are rejected by the city and later approved by the tribunal on appeal have potentially disastrous implications because additional buildings place immense strain on the city’s electricity and water supply, sewerage and roads.

On Tuesday, the city lost its case against the tribunal in the Joburg High Court when it was ruled the council did not have exclusive jurisdiction over such applications.

The ruling paves the way for disgruntled developers to sue the council for losses incurred.

However, the council has instructed lawyers to study the ruling with a view to appealing.

Joburg’s communication director, Gabu Tugwana, said: “We are the ones who have the capacity to determine if a suburb has the capacity to supply adequate services.

‘‘At the end of the day, we want to ensure we have a well-managed city.”

Property economist Francois Viruly said the Development Facilitation Act had allowed developers to sidestep local government and in many cases begin building before they had planning approval.

Legislated in 1995, the Act introduced concepts such as compact city and mixed use.

But Viruly said developers soon discovered loopholes and began running rings around tribunal politicians, developing on almost every available plot at will.

A Randburg developer, Howard Wolfe, said he had built a townhouse complex in Ferndale without complete building plans, as it had been “conditionally approved”.

Wolfe said it was not his fault because the council had subsequently lost his plans, and City Power had told him a few months ago that it could not supply him with electricity.

Frustrated city bosses are issuing about 400 orders a month to developers to stop building.

Spokesman Nthatisi Modingoane said the city referred about 30 cases to lawyers every month.

In Midrand, about 10 developments, some completed, stand empty with no electricity while in Ferndale in Randburg, about 40 developers handed a petition to City Power in November asking it to solve the crisis.

Annette Deppe, a DA ward councillor in Midrand, said she had taken up the matter with City Power in June at the request of developers.

Developer Johnnie Louw has seven Ferndale properties waiting for electricity. One of them, in the Randburg CBD, is zoned for 88 two bedroom units.

It is valued at R6-million and Louw said he is incurring a loss of over R1-million a year in interest, rates and taxes and security to keep squatters out.

He said he cannot sell it because nobody would buy it knowing there is no electricity available and if he should sell, it would have to almost be a “giveaway”.

Such hurdles are compromising urban renewal projects such as the Randburg Spatial Development Framework, intended to introduce high-density residential developments that would allow about 3000 families to live closer to work.

On Friday, the council said it would soon announce detailed measures to tackle infrastructure problems.

Last year alone, more than 7.7million square metres of offices in gated parks were created in Joburg, according to Urban Studies, which specialises in property research — while only 6million square metres were needed.

Figures from the Knowledge Factory show that more than 6510 homes have been built in already densely populated Sandown, Morningside, Bryanston and Douglasdale since 2000.

Source: Sunday Times