Makro hearing date on the cards
MAGALIESSIG - Residents are still waiting for the hearing of the Makro store proposed to be established on the corner of Witkoppen Road and Merrow Lane.
The involved parties believe the hearing is likely to take place at the end of September.
Ward councillor Stephen Moore said, now that the long wait was almost over, it was important for Magaliessig residents to join the Magaliessig Action Forum’s mailing list to be aware of the dates and take leave from work if it was required.
“I urge residents to make the effort because without a significant show of the community, the chances of the Makro being built are greatly increased.”
About 1 800 Magaliessig residents submitted written objections to the proposed Makro and have been waiting since the middle of last year for the hearing.
The development is proposed on a piece of land close to Merrow Down Country Club, a village of mainly retired people, 75 percent of whom are older than 70.
Chairman of the forum Mary Hanna said, “Many people consider Makro a done deal because we have not heard when the hearing will be but we urge residents to keep up the fight. We have nothing against Makro, we just don’t want creeping commercialism in our residential area.
We also have to consider whether the roads will be able to withstand the extra traffic flow and question what will happen to existing stores in the area. Do we really need another store when there are many nearby in Fourways?”
Commercial director of Makro Doug Jones said research showed 70 percent of respondents in the proposed store’s market area were in favour of its establishment. Makro remains committed to the application and associated process for the rights to open the store.
According to Jones, “Noise, traffic and visual impacts have been addressed in the application and were scrutinised in detail during the Environmental Impact Assessment process and the favourable Record of Decision that resulted from the assessment was tested in an appeal and upheld.
Makro has committed to routing on-site traffic away from the residential areas, building, landscaping and maintaining a park and to significant road upgrades to address concerns.”
