Wilderness Owners Up In Arms

Neighbours of a property in Wilderness where a new group housing development received the go-ahead from Environmental Affairs, will resort to obtain a court order if necessary, to stop the development from going ahead.

Inset: Architectural representation of the hill with the 17 proposed houses of Riverhill Estate and current view. (click on image for full-size view)

Riverhill Estate, a project proposed by the Property Direct Group from Pretoria, obtained a record of decision (ROD) after a five year long environmental impact assessment (EIA) process during which the deve-lopment was appealed twice.

With the EIA completed, an application for rezoning and subdivision will be tabled before Council in September. The property, erf 1275 (situated at the Wilderness Rest Camp junction on the N2) is 6,15 hectares in extent and is currently zoned undetermined. Seventeen houses are proposed on 1,3 hectares, the only section of the site that is developable. The remainder of the land will be divided into two portions of which one is to be zoned open space.
The developer is considering donating the remaining portion to SANParks on condition that a walking trail be created for access to the Touw River for residents of Riverhill Estate.

Speaking on behalf of the 11 existing property owners neighbouring Riverhill, Mario Ronga said that their homes had already showed cracking during the compaction of Dumbleton Road in front of their properties when paving had been laid.
This was also the access road to the new development and would be subjected to heavy vehicle traffic during construction.

"I’m having the deck of my house replaced as it had shifted down with half a metre. We fear that large machinery driving past us and moving onto site for construction as well as the weight of new buildings on the top op the hill will place severe stress on the dune’s stability. If Council approves the application, we will attempt to obtain a court interdict to prevent the development from going ahead."

Visual impact
The development was also appealed by the Wilderness and Lakes Environmental Action Forum (WALEAF) on the grounds that the visual impact of the development would be inappropriate, especially considering the Western Cape Provincial Spatial Development Framework (PSDF) which attached great importance to the N2 as a "major view corridor" where no further deterioration should be permitted.
"The visual impact assessment stated that Wilderness has a high aesthetic value that must be maintained," said Mike Leggatt, spokes-person for WALEAF.

Caution for loose soil
Their appeal also referred to the results of a geotech-
nical investigation which which concluded that the Riverhill site had to be considered with caution due to its loose soil structure.
Leggatt said that despite amendments to the initial development proposal, the density was still too high, leaving very little space for planting trees to minimise the visual impact.
"Certain restrictions have been put on the development. WALEAF can only hope that these will be enforced," he said.

by ALIDA DE BEER

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