Your chance to comment on River Club development
Observatory residents have until 15 October to comment on an application to redevelop the River Club property into a 150 000 m mixed use development.
The application to redevelop the property at 6 Liesbeek Parkway, was submitted the City of Cape Town.
According to the application notice, Liesbeek Leisure Properties Trust plans to build a three to ten storey, mixed use development comprising of retail shops and restaurants, offices, dwelling units, a hotel and places of instruction.
The application notes that retaining structures will need to be constructed to raise the roads and ※habitable space§ above the 1:100 year flood plain.
"The initial phase of the development proposal will see the partial construction of the Berkley Road extension, which in future phases will be further extended to provide access from Berkley Road to Malta Road/Liesbeek Parkway.
"Additionally the Liesbeek Canal on the eastern boundary of the site will be rehabilitated into a river course, while the 'old' Liesbeek River Channel on the western boundary of the site will largely be filled and landscaped to accommodate a vegetated stormwater swale."
To accommodate the proposal, the property will need to be rezoned and will require permission to allow urban development on land designated as 'open space'.
See the full application and supporting documents here: http://www.capetown.gov.za/City-Connect/Have-your-say/Land-use-applications/70396369.
The redevelopment of the River Club property has been a contentious issue in Observatory as the area forms part of the Two River Urban Park (TRUP), one of the biggest urban green lungs in the city located at the floodplain and river banks at the convergence of the Black and Liesbeek rivers.
The Two Rivers Urban Park Association (TRUPA) and the Observatory Civic Association (OCA), among other groups, have been opposed to large scale developments in the TRUP area, lobbying for the protection of the natural environment and the conservation of the cultural heritage of the area.
Both the OCA and TRUPA have recently submitted objections to the Liesbeek Leisure Properties Trust and provincial government's appeal of Heritage Western Cape's (HWC) decision, made in March this year, to provisionally protect the River Club property as a National Heritage Resource.
In their complaint against the appeal, the OCA noted their support for the HWC's decision to protect the area.
"It is an area of intense historical and cultural value, particularly for indigenous peoples whose histories have been exterminated by colonial and post-colonial development over past centuries’It is the mandate of HWC to ensure adequate protections are in place where there is a high value heritage resource involved," the report said.
The OCA also highlighted faults with public participation process regarding development of the River Club property and irregularities with the environmental impact assessment (EIA).
The Ministerial Appeal Tribunals will hold a hearing on the appeal of the HWC's decision to provisionally protect the River Club property.
The hearing will be held on Thursday 18 October at 10am at8th Floor, Protea Assurance Building, Greenmarket Square.