All BRT stations “illegal”
Motorists in Tshwane could expect some disruption in traffic flow as all sites on which BRT stations have been built will have to be rezoned, leading to some road closures.
Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) stations in the metro have apparently been erected illegally.
Tshwane failed to rezone the areas as required by law, DA councillor Siobhan Muller said this week.
The stations at Loftus Versfeld in the east and two others, Hector Pieterson and Anton Lembede, posed the greatest problem as they were built in the middle of the roads system.
“According to Section 67 of the Local Government Ordinance 17 of 1938, the roads (affected) need to be closed permanently, the area rezoned and allocated a new erf number,” said Muller.
The stations were built on sites currently zoned as “road reserve/existing public road”.
Muller is a member of the oversight committee on economic development and spatial planning in the metro.
Building plans may not be approved before a rezoning application has been approved, said Muller.
She requested to the metro that notice be served regarding illegal land use in the instances of all BRT stations where rezoning had not occurred.
“The building of a station is not permissible under any of the defined land uses in terms of the existing zoning,” said Muller.
“Therefore, the municipality was obliged to rezone that portion of land before commencing with building plans or building of stations.”
Tshwane mayoral spokesman Blessing Manale earlier said there was no crisis regarding the stations.
He was reported as saying that the building of the stations without property zoning was neither an illegality nor ignorance of the city’s own policies.
Manale said the situation could maybe be attributed to short-sightedness on the part of the architects and designers when the stations were planned and built.
The council’s own department dealing with the BRT acknowledged that the bus stations were not permitted under current zoning of streets, but had taken immediate steps towards rectifying the situation – obtaining approval to proceed with partial street closures as required by the ordinance.
The department said various legislative requirements would have to be obtained to correct and use individual erf numbers.
“In order to create an erf number for each station situated in the existing streets, a partial street closure will be required,” said the BRT department in a report.
“In some instances, a partial street closure will be necessary but this will affect the station footprint only and would not constitute a complete road closure.”
It could not be established at the time of going to print when the rezoning process would start and how motorists and pedestrians would be affected if at all.
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