City breaks silence on City Improvement District rules

This after Fourways Review persistently inquired about the requirements after we reported on two city improvement districts in Fourways which are vying for a licence from the city council.

Fourways City Improvement District (FCID) and Future Fourways City (FCF) are squaring up against each other for the right to clean and provide security in the area in exchange for a levy from local property owners.

Council spokesperson Virgil James confirmed that only one CID licence was available in Fourways. James revealed that both FCID and FCF were yet to formally submit their applications to the city council. The applicants are still grappling with the formative requirements of written support from property owners in the area.

The Gauteng City Improvement Districts Acts Number 12 of 1997 decrees the following conditions as pre-requisites before a licence is granted:

•  At the petition stage, the solicitor must have the written support of 25 percent of rateable properties within the boundaries of the proposed City Improvement District
•  The Municipality must issue a written confirmation of receipt of the petition to the petitioner if all the requirements are met, giving notice of a public hearing. This must contain the date, time, place. This must be done within 40 to 90 days after the date of written acknowledgement of receipt by the municipality
•  The address where the proposed City Improvement District may be inspected should also be provided
•  The name of the person and their address at the municipality where written comments or objections may be lodged
•  Within 30 days after receiving a confirmation of receipt, the petitioner much publish one notice of the proposed City Improvement District plan in the Provincial Gazette, and another notice in a daily newspaper circulating in or near the vicinity of the proposed City Improvement District
•  The petitioner must notify every owner of a rateable property within the boundaries of the proposed city improvement district area by registered mail
•  The petitioner must also advertise the proposed city improvement plan within the boundaries of the proposed City Improvement District by displaying clear posters in visible locations for a period of at least 20 days
•  A public hearing must be chaired by a person nominated by the chairperson of the executive council of the municipality. This person may be the petitioner
•  At the hearing, the petitioner must verify that all requirements of the Act have been complied with
•  The municipality must indicate if it had received objections and what the nature of the objection is
•  The objectors and interested parties may make representations at the public hearing
•  The municipality must then reach a decision regarding the proposed City Improvement District plan, taking into account the following: written objections, comments received, oral objections made at the public hearing and requirements of Section 3 (1) of the Act
•  The council must come up with a decision within 60 days, failure to do so entitles the petitioner to appeal to the MEC to expedite a decision from the council
•  The municipality must notify the petitioner within 10 days after making a decision
•  After council approval, the petitioner must provide the council within 120 days, a document indicating the number of ratepayers in the City Improvement District area and total rates base in value of the improvement district of more than 50 percent of the owners of rateable property
•  The municipality must then verify the documents provided and this must be acknowledged to the petitioner within 10 days.
•  If documents fail to meet the requirements of the Act, the municipality must, within 10 days, refer the document back to the petitioner with a written indication of the defects
•  The Petitioner may resubmit the document with the amendments or additional information.

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