THE joint efforts of Olive Tree Church (OTC) members and the Florida Urban Improvement Precinct UIP in cleaning up a vacant lot on Montpelier Road in Morningside on Sunday, April 6, will soon bear fruit for the community and Durban’s busiest hub.

“We have huge plans for this property that will definitely raise the bar,” said excited Florida Road UIP precinct manager, Vanessa Knight. “We are looking to turn this land into a secure parking lot with guards on-site 24 hours a day. We all know that parking on Florida Road can be a struggle and we are working on this place as an alternative.”

Knight said cleaning up of the fenced property with a guard house was the first step to getting the parking lot up and running. “We already have approval from the City and everything is in in motion,” said Knight. “Our UIP monitors will man the site throughout the day and the best part of this project will be the tuk tuks and the shuttle service that will be ferrying people to and from the parking lot. It will be an exciting and new feature for Florida Road. We are hoping to have this all up and running in four months’ time.”

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Before all this can happen, the vacant lot opposite Charlie’s Coffee Shop needs a make-over. Under the leadership of Ross Rodger, members of the OTC congregation met after Sunday service at the site to clear the way for the revamp.

“We call it City Serve and it’s a project that the church runs every term to improve the area,” said Rodger. “We chose to clean this park because the City has agreed to turn this area into a parking lot as there is not enough parking on Florida Road. Tourism is coming on board to fund the tuk-tuk and to assist policing the area. The clean-up is just the start of this massive project.”

He said when the church started in 2008 at the heart of Florida Road, their mission was to make an impact and a difference in the community. “We felt that the church should be able to shape and change an area that we live in. With the UIP in place, we went from door-to-door getting businesses on board and over the years have been mobilising the community to help improve the area and the city,” said Rodger.

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The OTC clean-up operation was attended by nearly 100 people from the community and church. Youth leader Jonathan Jansen and mission intern, Celeste Pillay, were among those that rolled up their sleeves to assist with the initiative. Pillay said City Serve has been serving the community since last year and that they have undertaken a few projects around Florida Road. “We did two projects last year and this is our third. We have another one coming up later this year, it’s becoming a regular thing. We would love to see more of the community getting involved with the initiatives,” said Pillay.

Her sentiments were shared by Jansen who said it was part of having a positive impact on the community. “We try to keep our project local, especially because we are based at the church. We want people to be involved and get excited about the community work; hopefully this will lead to other areas doing the same,” said the youth leader.

He said the land has been vacant for a while and becoming an eyesore. “As the church we felt the need to get involved and clean it up so that it can be put to good use.” The parking lot is expected to be in operation before the start of summer.

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