A development on the grounds of the former Mandene Park Sports Club in Manor Gardens has raised the concerns of nearby residents.
Alerted to the activity on the site, Janus Horn, chairman of Mayville SPS CPF Secor 1B in Manor Gardens investigated reports that earth moving equipment had been moved onto the site to clear the property and that fencing and the floodlights had been removed.
Contracts on the site informed Horn that the area was being cleared and would be renovated for use as a recycling centre.
Horn said he and residents were concerned that they had not been consulted about the plans and pointed out that the property was currently zoned as a “Special Zone” which had been amended in December 2017 as Public Open Space.
“The property is sited directly next to residential properties, UKZN and Manor Gardens Primary School. No notification of intended use was ever circulated to the community. Surely this should have been advertised in the papers and a sign put up? We are also concerned as we have not been told what will be recycled on the site. We don’t want another Enviroserv disaster like the one they had in Hillcrest. We don’t mind improving the area which has been derelict for a number of years, but we don’t approve of an industrial type business in a residential area. We also question whether an environmental impact assessment and traffic assessment were done,” he said.
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Horn confirmed that he had met with with the person managing the project on site and was shown a copy of an agreement stating they had been awarded a contract with DSW to do recycling work.
However, he said the contact made no mention of Mandene Park Sports Club and no lease agreement had been signed by the contracted party and the City.
Disturbed by the developments, Horn called for a meeting with city officials on Thursday evening, asking for clarity on the developments on the site.
He said emails he had received from the municipality also indicated that there was some confusion as to what was happening at the site.
One official claimed the land was to be used a s a training centre with the Parks Department retaining a portion of the land for a soccer field. The official had no knowledge of a recycling station being developed on site.
At the meeting, which was attended by 80 residents Garth Kloppenborg from Parks explained he had been approached by the Cato Manor ABM and that the grounds had been rezoned to become an educational training centre for the municipality.
“The property was cited as a crime haven, however only been one incident was reported four years ago. There is a guard at the premises, so we feel this was just an excuse to bypass procedure. Residents have seen DSW trucks dropping off recycling bags at site which were taken away by smaller vehicles. Something is going on,” said Horn.
Ethekwini Municipality responds:
Responding to queries by Berea Mail, eThekwini Acting Head of Communications, Mandla Nsele said the construction on the Mandene Park site was a Cleansing and Solid Waste initiative.
He said a new municipal academy was in the planning stages and earmarked for the same site and in anticipation of this, the site was rezoned “Educational”.
“The project will continue and construction is anticipated to start next year or later in the financial year. The public was consulted about it and the whole public participation process as part of the feasibility study was concluded and issues raised by the public were responded to,” he said.
Nsele confirmed that the municipality had received numerous complaints about activities at the site and had engaged with Cleaning and Solid Waste who confirmed they were aware of the Academy Project and were also responsible for the construction of the recycling project currently happening on site. He said the recycling project was only a temporary measure which would only last about six months before construction on the academy commenced.
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