Lambert Road rezoning woes

A LAMBERT Road residential property in Berea has been sold and the prospective owners had applied for rezoning to develop a four-storey apartment building.

According to Lambert Road resident, Jocelyn Hallot, there seems to be a threat hanging over the 'lovely Berea' and she is encouraging all residents to pull together to counter the spate of rezoning applications for high density developments.

She said the home at 91 Lambert Road, which is directly opposite the main entrance to Clifton School, had been sold and an application on behalf of the prospective new owners had been lodged to re-zone and re-develop.

“I, with the assistance of another resident, Gavin Gormley, have had a brief look at the application which plans to erect no less than 21 units on four floors, which includes 44 parking bays on the ground floor. Apart from anything else, 44 new people leaving for work every morning at the same time as the greater school drop off is the last thing anyone needs on top of the existing traffic congestion,” she said.

Hallot said what was of main concern was that if the rezoning was successful it would create a precedent for all the other special residential properties along the road to go exactly the same way which could radically and dramatically alter the nature of the area.

“This hardly gives anyone any incentive to move into the neighbourhood, if zoning can be so easily overthrown. I have been urging residents to object in the strongest of terms to this application,” she said.

Ward councillor, Martin Meyer, said he was concerned by the latest application for rezoning. “It seems as though our fears after the Poyton Place rezoning decision are now becoming true. All of a sudden there is a spate of rezoning applications for the ward. Rezoning should be the exception, not the rule. Because all that is happening now is that zones are irrelevant, as anyone can just apply for a rezoning confident in the knowledge that the precedents have been set and applications all go through.”

He said that as a councillor, he was also frustrated that the only answer he could give residents did not leave them with much hope.

“The process calls for people to give their views, but it is becoming more and more clear that the views of residents will just continue to be ignored by the ANC dominated Town Planning committee and council. Public participation has become a sham, with unfounded allegations being made against residents,” he said, referring to earlier accusations from officials that residents wanted merely to preserve a suburb from the 50s. “The facts are that this is the most diverse part of our city, and that these developments are high end developments not benefitting the middle class or the poor of our city,” said Meyer.

He said he would engage with Land Use Management and the chairperson of the Town Planning committee to find out how they viewed the residents' role in the whole process.