Combined residents associations hand over objections to the City
GREENSIDE – Emmarentia Resident’s Association and the Emmarentia Residents association handed in 2480 objections against the proposed development.
The Emmarentia and Greenside resident associations joined together to object against a development in their neighborhoods and collected and handed in 2480 objections to the City of Joburg on 2 December.
The proposed development will be on the corner of Gleneagles Road, Linden Road and Barry Hertzog Avenue and is proposed to have five storeys that will comprise of a shopping centre on the lower floor, offices and 89 residential units.
The joint associations held a meeting at Marks Park Sports Grounds in Emmarentia where they discussed plans to object this proposed development and handed in the objections which was the first step.
Emmarentia Resident’s Association chairperson Wolfgang Phoenix said that 2480 objections that they handed over to the City of Joburg’s city-planning department was one of the highest number of objections ever received and the most for a single development.
“We as the resident associations, are committed to the process by relying on our precinct plans to ensure that the developer adheres to the Greenside and Emmarentia precinct plans,” Phoenix said.
He pointed out that the City and the developer were engaging each other on the issue of the proposed development and leaving the residents who would be directly affected by the development out of the discussions.
“We feel that the City of Joburg is not listening to us and it would be nice if representatives from the City came to sit and talk with the residents associations and revising the precinct plan as a collective bargaining forum,” Phoenix explained.
He further explained that the next phase of the objections going forward was that the City would have to create a process where a tribunal takes place and that is where the combined residents associations make representations as to their objections and this process Phoenix said could take from 18 months or more.
“We are not against development in our neighborhoods we just want them to be within the scope of our precinct plans,” Phoenix added.
He pointed out that within their neighborhoods they had homes and trees that were older than 60 years and are protected by the National Heritage Resources Act, 25 of 1999.
Details: Emmarentia Residents Association: E-mail: info@emmarentia.co.za; Greenside Residents Association: info@lovegreenside.org
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