ALBERTON may be getting a low-cost housing development.
A development planner has applied to the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality for the amendment of Ekurhuleni Town Planning Scheme, 2014, by sub-dividing and rezoning the sub-divided portions of the land situated on the corners of Swartkoppies and Lincoln Roads, opposite the Lemon Tree shopping centre.
Proposed portion one: to be rezoned from “Special for purposes of a market place, motor sales park, restaurant and for any other uses with the special consent of the local authority”, to “Residential 4”.
Proposed portion two: to be rezoned from “Special for purposes of a market place, motor sales park, restaurant and for any other uses with the special consent of the local authority”, to “Social Services facility”.
Proposed remainder of the Erf: to be rezoned from “Special for purposes of a market place, motor sales park, restaurant and for any other uses with the special consent of the local authority”, to “Roads” on the sub-divided portions.
“The proposal is to develop the property into ‘social housing’ as part of the Spatial Planning and Land Use Management Act number 16 of 2013,” says Alderman Bruna Haipel, councillor for Alberton.
“There have been many objections lodged by residents and the proposal will have to go to tribunal,” she adds.
One resident who wishes to remain anonymous sent us a WhatsApp message complaining about constant problems with water and power outages and how it damages her appliances. “They can’t even cope now and then they want to put up 400 houses!” she said.
Yet another resident (wishing not to be named) contacted the RECORD via email: “This low-cost housing development is not good for the area. This will have a dire effect on every level. Crime will be out of control (even more so than now); all the schools (Laerskool Randhart, Hoërskool Marais Viljoen, Alberview Primary, Alberton High) in the area will be flooded.
“The quality and safety of our area will be destroyed. With the online registration for Grade One and Grade Eight, preference will certainly be given to the occupants of the low-cost housing and our children will have to travel to other areas for education that is already very expensive. Traffic is already a nightmare – imagine the increase in traffic. Lastly the value of property will drop massively. We have to stop this.”
The RECORD had not received comment from the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality by the time of going to print.
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