Lawsuit opened against The Village restaurant hub
Hazelwood residents at their wits end with The Village that supposedly opened unlawfully in a semi-residential area.
A battle over a number of restaurants that has sprung up in a residential area in the east of Pretoria is heading for court. The property group Atterbury and disgruntled ratepayers have lodged an action to this effect in the High Court in Pretoria. The two parties told reporters on Friday that the restaurant hub, known as The Village, came about in contravention of city laws.
“Neighbours… have been living in unsanitary nightmare of noise, garbage, greasy kitchen odours and parking violation for two years,” said the complainants. “The lawsuit is the outcome of an ongoing battle by local businesses and homeowners against the unlawful trade and development.”
The respondents were businessman Peter Michaletos’s Tytlos Property CC, its tenants and the Tshwane metro. The complainants accused the metro of having failed to take action against the alleged transgression of zoning regulations.
Atterbury CEO Louis van der Watt said the restaurant hub in 16th Street and Firwood Avenue had been in existence for about two years. Spokesperson for the Hazelwood Home Owners Association Francois de Wet said parking was especially a serious problem.
“A car count conducted on a busy evening showed up to 200 cars parked bumper-to-bumper in front of houses as far as two blocks away, obstructing driveways and obliterating walkways.”
A spokesperson for Michaletos, Izelle Lemue, disputed assertions that zoning regulations had been ignored in Hazelwood.
“All rezoning has in fact been proclaimed and the current dispute resolves around the implementation of the conditions subject to which the rezoning was granted, with specific reference to the provision of parking.”
She said the parking was the actual subject matter of the dispute in the High Court. “This matter is sub judice and we prefer not to go into detail thereof.”
Lemue said the rezoning applications were unopposed and it was “highly inappriopriate for the residents at this point in time to complain about restaurants being established in the area – they consciously elected not to oppose the initial application”.
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She added: “Our proposal offered as a possible solution to this dispute with the applicants will have to be beneficial to all and approved by the authorities.”
Atterbury said since it and eight other ratepayers had set court proceedings in motion, the metro had indicated it would not oppose this legal action.
According to them, the metro said it was in the process of taking action to address health and building structure contraventions. “At least two restaurant tenants at The Village have recently moved out amid rumours that the area will inevitably be shut down.”
Economic development MMC Randall Williams said in a statement the metro was confident that the court would dismiss the legal action as baseless. It rejected accusations that the metro had been involved in anti-competitive behaviour in the development of The Village.
“The City is not in the business of supporting cartels within our borders and we are steadfastly committed to ensuring that fair and open processes guide the city’s work and benefit our people – and not a small group of developers who have sour grapes about advancing their self-interested ends.”
Williams said the metro had received several complaints from Atterbury. The metro had served contravention notices on the owner of properties in The Village, both for the land use and the building contraventions.
“The City has served several contravention notices and has given our attorneys the go-ahead to proceed with the application for an interdict to prevent Tytlos from conducting their business illegally.”
Williams said Atterbury and the residents had been told that the metro was in the process of taking apprioriate action against Tytlos Properties CC. Atterbury and the ratepayers, nevertheless, opted to pursue their legal action. Van der Watt, meanwhile, accused ward councillor Siobhan Muller of having failed to act on numerous complaints about the hub.
Muller disputed this. “With over 150 emails between myself and officials and the neighbouring residents who represent the affected residents, I find the allegations by Atterbury Properties mischievous and opportunistic,” she said.
She said they (Atterbury Properties) had been informed that action would be taken by various departments of the metro. “With this and a number of site meetings which were held with the departments and the community representative, I feel I have executed my mandate.”
She said the fact that the developer wanted to get a court order to stop her in these actions spoke for itself. Van der Watt said the company and the ratepayers could not not have allowed this matter to drag on indefinitely.
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“We cannot allow South Africa to deteriorate into a third world country with a ‘free for all’ attitude,” he said.
“We have a responsibility as a neighbour who is invested in turning Pretoria into a world-class city, with a track record of ploughing back into the city over decades, to speak up and apply ourselves to helping prevent this potential crisis on our doorstep.”
He said responsible development required adherence to multiple regulations, starting with zoning. “It is there to ensure a development is sustainable and will not have a negative impact on its environment.”
Francois de Wet said ratepayers would not budge.
“New structures are being contructed without appropriate development rights being in place and consequently none of the building plans have been approved – and the city council does nothing to stop this,” said De Wet.
He said there was no foundation for claims that a new parking garage was to be built to solve the parking crisis.
“No plans have been approved, no rezoning has been applied, which would be the first requirement. It is all smoke and mirrors,” said De Wet.
“We will dig in our heels and are not moving anywhere. We will not be bullied.”
Hazelwood resident Francois de Wet and Atterbury CEO, Louis van der Watt. Photo: Mari Rheeder.
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