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[Please be patient to view pdf] Green Point Common is zoned Public Open Space. The Green Point Common is zoned Public Open Space (POS) with a condition that it is used “for playing fields only” (Schedule 2). In terms of the Title Deed it belongs to and is administered by the City of Cape Town on behalf of the public. Through time, the restriction to “playing fields only” has been ignored, so that sports clubs were allowed to build club houses, organise social activities, run bars and restaurants, etc. In a POS zone any use is permitted with the consent of Council. These land uses were therefore not strictly compliant with the Title Deed but were carried out with the “consent” of Council. The Common today falls into three precincts: (1) the Stadium precinct, (2) the leased sports grounds, and (3) the Green Point Park. (1)The stadium precinct is leased to a Stadium Operator (Sail-Stad de France), and is zoned “Community Facilities” with consent for Place of Assembly and Place of Instruction, to allow for gatherings, informal trading, shops, concerts, gyms, etc. (2)The sports grounds are leased to individual clubs, and permitted uses include sporting activities, parking, ancillary uses and incidental buildings, etc. (3)The Green Point Park is for the general public, and permitted uses are parkland and ancillary uses and incidental buildings. The current application is to remove the Zoning Scheme Schedule 2 condition encumbering (restricting activities on) the portions zoned POS. Removing this condition will allow certain commercial activities to take place on the POS, as is the case for the Stadium precinct. The applicant says this is necessary in order to regularise the existing land use situation and to provide “revenue generating opportunities” for sustaining and maintaining the Common. The Stadium Operator is legally obliged to maintain the Green Point Park. This hard-won condition was the outcome of extensive negotiations between the City, ratepayers and our ward councillor. The Operator has been given generous lease conditions and ample commercial opportunities in the Stadium precinct. It is not clear why the City or Operator should now be permitted to to raise revenue from the Park precinct as well. Application is also made to allow “temporary use departures” to permit outdoor trading and organised events on Public Open Space and to apply for Council consent to permit the same uses as for the Stadium precinct. The applicant states that only “appropriate” activities will be allowed, but there is no definition of “appropriate”, or limits to the scale of development. Where is the line between a curio shop and a supermarket, a tea room and a restaurant, a training facility and a hotel? An Eco Centre and tea room is already being built. New infrastructure may become a security risk, so public access may be increasingly restricted. The applicant says that adequate controls over activities are contained in a Compliance Management System adopted by Council in December 2009. SEE MEDIA RELEASE 11 MARCH 2010 FOR THE CITY’S VISION FOR THE PARK What you need to decide is whether this application is based on common sense, or if it will result in creeping commercialisation and the consequent erosion of precious public open space. Option 1: Leave the existing Zoning and Land Use in place, possibly with minor amendment, and continue to manage by consent; e.g. very specific exemptions must be applied for, such as a tea room in the Park; Option 2: Remove the Schedule 2 condition and approve the blanket application for “temporary use departures”, relying on the Compliance Management System to protect POS from inappropriate development and commercial creep in the future. These extracts come from the Record of Decision by the Minister for Environment, Planning and Development when giving approval for the construction of a Stadium (2007):
Grounds for refusal of the application (s.36 LUPO) include:
Make your written comment or send an objection (with reasons that relate to legal context) on or before 12 April 2010, quoting the reference below: Re: Application (no. 190337) for removal of Schedule condition, temporary departures & Consent: remainder erf 1056, Green Point. To: District Manager, Strategy & Planning, fax 021 400 5472, email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . (Enquiries and assistance with submissions: Joy San Giorgio, tel: 021 400 6453.) (NB State your name, address and erf number in your response). |
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