RESIDENTS living near Clive Road in Berea are angered that work on a proposed development in the road has started when plans have yet to be submitted for approval.
Residents, Ugo and Peggy Paladini met with ward councillor Martin Meyer and Cheryl Johnson from Save Our Berea (SOB) at their home which overlooks the building site, to discuss the issue. The couple said they had attempted to get answers from the city for more than three months and had, as far back as June, established that the developer had not submitted a building plan for approval.
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“We have been to the City Engineers Department to view plans but were told none had been submitted. As residents, we should have the chance to view plans. We found out the property was for sale and then sold at the same time,” said Peggy.
They said the original building had been demolished, foundations had been laid and work had started on the new development.
“By the looks of the level of the building, it will be a bigger construction and the larger the foundations, the higher the development. They work on the site from 7am to 6pm every day and on the weekends. This building is going to go up fast and will probably be built before the plans are put in,” she said.
The Paladinis said if this sort of development was allowed, they were concerned that the nature of the area would change and their property value would drop. They said they were also concerned that the access road was not adequate for the amount of traffic which a new development of this magnitude would bring.
“Developers cannot turn the soil until plans have been approved. This is an urgent matter as building is obviously happening,” said Meyer.
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Johnson said the developers of the site were not new to the game. “They are behind several developments across the Berea so they will be aware that at pre-assessment stage, at the point the city’s Development Planning, Environment and Management Unit clear a proposed development with regard to town planning regulations, an official letter will be issued that must be submitted to Amafa with the application for a demolition permit,” she said. Johnson said on the pre-assessment letter in large and bold letters it stated a developer may not proceed with any building work in terms of the pre-assessment plan until such time as the building plan had been approved.
“Have no lessons been learned from the 317 Currie Road debacle that has cost the ratepayers millions in legal fees? And how can it be that the developer has been allowed to continue building without submitting plans?” she asked.
Johnson said the building inspector assured residents that he had issued a stop-work order to the developer, however when SOB spoke to managers on site, they denied this. “Whose story do we believe? Moreover, it was only after sustained intervention by residents, Martin Meyer and Save Our Berea that enforcement finally informed us that a Section 54 had been issued. And even then, we have yet to have sight of it. The city has an Investigation and Integrity Unit. Surely it is time that they investigated all the departments involved in dealing with plans, building inspectorate and enforcement?” she said.
Ros Devereux, Head of the Built Environment Section at Amafa/Heritage KZN, said Amafa had issued a permit for the demolition of the structure that was on the site in March.
“The Amafa permit is also conditional on demolition not being undertaken more than 30 days before development of the site. If local authority approval was not obtained, then development was not authorised to proceed and the building should not have been demolished until municipal approval had been obtained. The developer has been advised, through the architect, that the permit is withdrawn until all compliance issues have been resolved,” she said.
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