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 Anyone thinking of starting a business from home should first check with the City of Cape Town to find out whether the zoning scheme regulations for their area allows this activity.

 The City’s Planning and Building Development Management (PBDM) Department is responsible for enforcing compliance with the zoning scheme regulations created in terms of the Land Use Planning Ordinance no 15 of 1985. These regulations define what properties can be used for.

 The PBDM Department has recently increased the staff complement in its Land Use Enforcement Section. Thirty seven personnel have already been appointed out of an eventual 40 who will be allocated to different districts.

 The department uses an eight district model and four enforcement regions, each comprising two districts. Each region will be headed by an Enforcement Coordinator. At present, one Enforcement Coordinator has been appointed and three people are acting in the remaining positions.

 The Enforcement Section’s staff are guided by a Land Use Enforcement Policy which was adopted by the Planning and Environment Portfolio Committee (PEPCO) and came into force on 01 January 2009. The approach taken is to ensure people cease an activity which contravenes the zoning scheme regulations until such time as the land use rights are in place.

 The process is complaints-driven and once a written complaint is received, it will be investigated and if necessary, a notice will be served. Transgressors are given deadlines and if they fail to close down in time, the matter is prosecuted in the criminal courts. If the prosecution is successful, the Land Use Planning Ordinance allows the Magistrate to impose a fine of up to R100 000.00 or a term of imprisonment.

 Cheryl Walters, the Director:PBDM, says, “While the department is dependent on the criminal court process, which can take a long time to complete, it has nevertheless achieved notable successes since the enforcement policy was implemented eight months ago. In excess of 500 cease unauthorised business notices have been served, 286 unauthorised businesses have closed down and in 32 court cases, 29 guilty verdicts have been handed down and fines imposed”.

 “It should be noted that a prosecution will be instituted even if a person has, subsequent to the notice, submitted a land use application to rectify the unlawful land use,” she added.

 Anyone thinking of starting a business from home should therefore first contact the PBDM Department’s district office to find out whether the zoning scheme regulations for their area permits this. If a home owner or tenant wishes to run a business or a crèche in a residential area, they will probably first need to apply for some form of permission from the Department.

Application forms for permission to use a property for a use other than the allocated zoning are available on the City’s website www.capetown.gov.za or at the eight district offices. Completed application forms must be submitted to these offices.

Should anyone wish to complain about an unlawful activity, they must lodge a written complaint on the standard complaint form by fax or e-mail with the Regional Manager’s secretary.

Over the years we have made steady headway with this process. We have seen trees planted, fences errected and new jungle-gyms and benches in the parks. And, we are anticipating an allocation of exercise equipment for Queenspark – so, take this opportunity seriously!

Here our submission for the current financial year: UWRA Ward Allocation submission 09-10

• guide significant changes in land use; and
• guide public investment in infrastructure (such as roads, clinics and sports fields).

It matters to our neighbourhood.

The draft documents are attached. Please contact UWRA at committee@woodstock.org.za as soon as possible if you have questions or comments.

• TableBay_Executive_Summary_s
• Table Bay District_SDP_EMF_Aug 09_fin

• Red (no parking) lines to be painted on the corners of Roodebloem Road with respectively Palmerston Road; Balfour Street; Chamberlain Street; Salisbury Street; and Lawley Road.
• Red lines to be painted on all pedestrian crossings.
• Warning signs to be placed on Roodebloem Road (above and below Salisbury Street) in both directions, reading:

This is a residential area

Respect the speed limit

Watch out for pedestrians

• Additional visible speed limit signs to be placed in Roodebloem Road.
• Two additional pedestrian crossings to be placed in Roodebloem Road below Salisbury Street.
• All pedestrian crossings in Roodebloem Road to be marked with flashing warning lights.
• The corner of Roodebloem Road and Salisbury Street to be marked with flashing warning lights.
• The traffic department to supply a traffic official (“lollipop man”) for the pedestrian crossing in Roodebloem Road closest to Chamberlain Street in the morning and afternoon at school opening and closing hours.
• Lawley Road (coming into Roodebloem Road) to be turned into a Stop Street.

These proposals have many times been suggested and requested by our community in public meetings and in correspondence.

In addition to all this we need to speak to Council’s Traffic Department about curbing the use of large parts of Woodstock as a rat run during traffic peak hours.

We hope that somebody from the Traffic Department will be at our General Meeting on 22 July to answer our queries.

Comments must be submitted before 15 July 2009.

Follow this link: http://www.capetown.gov.za/en/Pages/DraftPublicParksBy-law.aspx

 Members of the public can  report problems or raise queries relating to municipal water and sanitation services,  such as faults in water management devices, leaking or faulty          water meters, blocked sewers, and burst water pipes by sending an SMS of no more than 160 characters to the number 31373.

All that is required in the SMS is the customer’s name, Erf number and/or account number, street address and a brief description of the fault. The complaint will be logged for   remedial action and response sent to the sender with a reference number.

The cost of this service is 80 cents per 160 character SMS. If further information is required, the Call Centre staff will call the sender. The Water Services Technical Operations Centre hotline (0860 103 054), and e-mail: WaterTOC@capetown.gov.za, will continue to operate.

 2.        NEW SYSTEM FOR REPORTING SERVICE DELIVERY PROBLEMS

 The C3 electronic reporting system for all service delivery complaints & queries is now in place.  Call 0860103089 or email contactUS@capetown.gov.za. Your contact is logged & a reference number will track progress.

 3.        Electricity problems should be reported to 0860 220 440 or emailed to FaultReporting.Centre@capetown.gov.za. Your complaint will be logged and a reference number given for tracking purposes.

Please scrutinize and forward any comments you have to the Ward Councillor: CedricReginald.Thomas@capetown.gov.za or Gregory.Todd@capetown.gov.za.  

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Council has now compiled a policy document with the aim to ensure that zoning and building regulations are adhered to throughout the city in the same way. The policy sets out what must be done by council officials should zoning and building regulations be broken.

UWRA welcomes the policy and the attempts by council to sort this matter out. However, we have one big concern, which we have brought to the attention of councillors and council officials on many occasions: the success of a policy like this depends heavily on the ability to enforce it.

At the moment Council is lacking this ability in a BIG way, simply because there is not enough staff to deal with contraventions. If Council is not going to employ more enforcement staff, this policy will fail and it might as well be thrown in the bin straight away.

Therefore UWRA again strongly urges the Council to appoint the appropriate numbers of enforcement staff. UWRA has submitted this comment to City Council.

 Zoning and Building Regulations Enforcement Policy

There is sometimes a misconception about what Social Housing actually is. Maybe it is easiest to start by explaining what it is not. It is not RDP housing and it is not Council Rental Housing.

Social Housing is good quality, medium density rental housing in well-located, attractive and safe parts of the City. The projects are well-managed by Not-for-Profit Housing companies in partnership with the City of Cape Town. The housing is meant for households with an income of R 2000 – R 7500, who will be paying rent for the units and who want to live in areas with good access to transport and social and economic opportunities.

How does Social Housing affect Woodstock ? The City Council initiated 4 projects in the greater Woodstock area. Two of these are in Salt River : Pickwick Road and Salt River Market. The other two are in Upper Woodstock: Dillon Lane and Victoria Walk/Melbourne Road.

In a progress report of April 2008 it was stated that NO further work is being done on the Victoria Walk/Melbourne Road project. This area is a Public Open Space and City Council is quite serious about preserving the Public Open Spaces and so is UWRA and the surrounding community. UWRA has made this clear to Council in the Woodstock Development Framework.

The Dillon Lane project plans for the building of 60 units. The plans are in quite an advanced stage, but the land lease agreement between Council and the Housing Company still needs to be finalised. The start of the project is expected in March 2009 and the building work should then be finished by July 2009.

We attach the Progress Report here, so you can see exactly what is happening.

CCT Social Housing Progress Report April 2008