Concerned parties attend meeting with Yellowwood Park developer
A concern raised includes stormwater from the complex being diverted into the dam at Stainbank Nature Reserve, which received a unanimous no because of the biodiversity and fragile infrastructure.
An information sharing session was held at the fellowship on Monday, 29 September with the developer of the proposed development of 130 residential units at Yellowwood Park Christian Fellowship (YPCF).
The information sharing evening was attended by eThekwini Municipality and Ward 64 councillor, Billie Prinsloo. A concern raised includes stormwater from the complex being diverted into the dam at Stainbank Nature Reserve, which received a unanimous no because of the biodiversity and fragile infrastructure.
Riaan Thomson is the town planning consultant acting as YPCF’s agent dealing with the application for subdivision and rezoning. “It was explained at the meeting that the eThekwini Stormwater design standards as well as the resulting stormwater management plan which was submitted as part of the application, ensures that pre-development and post-development stormwater run-off is exactly the same. Thus no additional stormwater (above current levels) will enter the nature reserve. When the members at the meeting raised concern about any potential pollution of such stormwater run-off, the developer ensured that such risks will be avoided and undertook to investigate the option of either increasing the specifications of the attenuation pond or possibly re-routing the discharge of the stormwater away from the nature reserve,” said Thomson.
Concerned members in attendance said the traffic impact only looked at the roads around the complex, which is hardly relevant, as people are not going to drive round in circles. A recent study by Ethekwini Municipality revealed that 30,000 heavy vehicles per month use the Coedmore Road link to Sarnia Road. This does not account for private vehicles and the scenario of having another 130 vehicles exiting an already overburdened road system does not bode well for traffic flow at peak periods.
Thomson said the specifications for traffic impact studies is guided by both industry standards as well as requirements by the eThekwini Transport Authority (ETA). Although industry standards, did not require a fuller traffic impact assessment (due to the scale of the development), the ETA requested that the traffic impact study consider a number of intersections as identified by ETA itself. “The developer complied and the required study was undertaken as such by a professional transport engineer. Again the developer indicated a willingness to expand the study to additional intersections, should ETA require such as the parameters for these professional studies are set by the relevant authority and not the developers.”
Residents in attendance suggested a 27 x1,000sqm freehold dwelling units which would mimic the town planning regulations of the surrounding homes instead of 130 sectional title cluster homes. “The viability of any residential development is determined by input costs, market demand and potential returns and any developer would need to find the balance between these. The eThekwini Central Spatial Development Plan (a development framework adopted by council to guide the development intentions within the central parts of the city), aims to increase the overall density of residential units within the larger central area and especially by utilising undeveloped land parcels toward this. In this case, both the developer and the land owner intend to avoid the much higher densities (which might have seen proposals for up to 300 units) achieved in other areas of the central region, but reducing the number of units to less that 130 would deem the development unfeasible. It should be noted that the architectural plans for the development was also presented to the meeting and illustrated that the developer has further considered the surrounding urban fabric (visible building distribution) by clustering units together in a number of free standing two and three storey buildings, rather that rows of individual units which would visually be further removed from the surrounding character,” said Thomson.
The other option as raised via the developer was that residents themselves buy the subdivision portion and re-sell the properties in 1,000sqm plots to afford the opportunity of the owners, Yellowwood Park Christian Fellowship to acquire funds for their church and the Impact Christian Academy School.
Mr. Thomson said “….ensures that pre-development and post-development stormwater run-off is exactly the same. Thus no additional stormwater (above current levels) will enter the nature reserve.”
The amount of stormwater generated may be the same, but the peak flow rates will be different. The undeveloped land acts as a sponge to soak up water, and release it slowly over a period of time. The Development will result in a substantial amount of roof or pavement over the land. This will result in increased flow during and immediately after a downpour.
So the stormwater system needs to cater for peak flows, not for average flows. This aspect has been ignored by the study.
No impact on Stainbank Dam is a joke. People should go into Stainbank and see how much rubbish comes into the small rivers from the houses at the back of Stainbank. Tyres, stoves, fridges, it seems there is no limit to the rubbish that goes into the storm water.