Tweni residents oppose rezoning amendment
A property owner, Peter Venter said due process needs to be followed.
The proposed rezoning of Erf 560 in Abingdon Road, between Abingdon Kwikspar Centre and the municipal library in Umtentweni to a taxi rank, will be amended according to Ray Nkonyeni Municipality (RNM).
The rezoning had created a stir among residents and they had sought the assistance of the Port Shepstone Human Rights Centre to oppose it.
RNM spokesperson, Simon April confirmed that an amendment will be made to the rezoning application.
“The applicant has requested to resubmit an amended application which details the intent of the application being a car wash and parking area and not the taxi tank as initially indicated. The applied zoning was to accommodate the above two land uses and not the actual taxi rank, unfortunately, it was just the said zoning (taxi rank) that was used from the Town Planning scheme,” he added.
Chief Operations Officer at Keal Property Group, Mark Keal had previously said that the full description of the proposed zoning was not appropriately detailed in the advertisement notice. The request was to limit the land use to that of parking and a car wash.
“We have no intention to establish a taxi rank. The application documentation also specifies that the approval of the application will be conditional to the use of parking and a car wash only. It should be made clear to all that this application does not contain any intentions to establish a taxi rank on the land and the land will be used for additional parking for the Abingdon Kwikspar Centre.”
“As in line with the municipality’s comments, the application wasn’t appropriately detailed and this is being amended,” Keal reassured.
Residents have expressed that amending the proposal will not change how they feel about the construction of anything on the natural habitat and valuable piece of land.
Leila Edwards said that the land is full of indigenous trees, buck and other animals.
“The ground was originally zoned as a park when it was under Umtentweni Town Board, long before it amalgamated with Port Shepstone. While we are not opposed to change this will be of no benefit to the ratepayers and residents of Umtentweni. Only the developers stand to gain from this. It will cause a myriad of complications, a traffic impact assessment would need to be conducted in season when locals would be most affected. The land is zoned as public buildings and institutions, a car wash is none of those,” said Edwards.
A property owner, Peter Venter said due process needs to be followed.
“No environmental impact assessment was done. The area has indigenous trees which they want to cut down for further parking, and there is no evidence that it is required. There is no evidence of access control or a traffic impact study. It’s next to a public library which is for the benefit of the community, how do they benefit from that? So now they want to take the defective application and amend it, which will not work,” Venter concluded.
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