Residents mystified by residential development

A development on a property in Stephen Dlamini Road has raised more questions than it has received answers from city officials leaving neighbours feeling mystified and apprehensive.

Residents living next to the property at 615 Stephen Dlamini Road say they have not been informed as to what is being built on the property and that no one has come forward with any information to enlighten them.

“We are being kept in the dark about what the landowner is planning to build on the property and we are bearing the brunt of this construction. Our boundary wall, which was built in 1934 has started to collapse and our paving is cracking because it has been undermined by the excavation of the property. Insurance will not pay for this damage,” said one resident whose property has been adversely affected and who asked not to be named.

He said he had heard there were plans to build a three to five storey building on the property, which he said would effectively block his view and leave his house in shadow.

“Our house is already dark, and with a large building blocking our sunlight, we will have to have lights on during the day, and will then sit with a high electricity bill. We will also lose value on our property as we will be looking onto the back of a building,” he said.

Of major concern, he said, was the fact that neighbours were not given an opportunity to voice their opinions or lodge objections to the construction on the property.

“When they started demolishing the buildings on the property, we started asking what was going to be built on the grounds, but the project manager told us it had nothing to do with us. We haven’t been asked for permission to build a large building on the property, and to us the foundations appear to be very large, and it seems there will be large columns erected, which means the building is going to be big. We are good neighbours and don’t deserve to be fobbed off,” he said.

Cheryl Johnson and Kevind Dunkley of Save Our Berea have taken up the concerns of the neighbours and contacted the relevant city departments for information and comment. “We have also received several requests from concerned residents living adjacent to this property for information about what is being built there, and who can blame them? Partly, their concern rises out of the enormous hole that has been dug, for substantial foundations are now in the process of being built, and the fact that a notice board on the front boundary was covered up, then removed. We cannot understand why there is such secrecy,” they said.

Johnson said it was concerning that the owner hadn’t introduced himself to his new neighbours and told them what he was planning to develop next to their properties.

“After all, he’s going to live next to them. Instead, the development has been shrouded in secrecy which is causing the neighbours great anxiety. We have been down to City Engineers and have viewed the plan which was prepared by an architectural firm based in Pretoria. At first we were denied access to the plans by the building inspector on duty and we had to call on a senior manager to intervene,” she said.

Save Our Berea has discovered that a plan has been approved for two new residential units on the property, but is still waiting for a response from the building inspectorate to other queries which have arisen over the development.

“After viewing the plans, we have filed an additional query with Claire Norton from the Town Planning Department because we notice from the plan that with the basements, the front unit will be three storeys high and at the unit at the rear of the property,, the basement is at a higher level than floors in the front unit, making the building six storeys high. To date we have not received a final answer from either department,” she said.

In response to a post on Save Our Berea’s facebook page residents have commented on the development. One resident living behind the development said she was very concerned as she had not seen the plans, and the general consensus from residents was that the building would be large, and that consent from neighbours should’ve been sought.

The Berea Mail is still waiting for a response to requests for comment regarding the development and details for the landlord from the municipality which were first submitted on 11 July.