Plett residents respond to development
On Saturday, June 1 a number of Plettenberg Bay residents gathered on Central Beach to voice their opinion about the proposed construction of a small-boat harbour in the Piesang River Mouth.
According to a press release issued by the Plettenberg Bay Ratepayers’ Association and the Plettenberg Bay Community Environmental Forum, “They wanted to say a loud and clear ‘NO!’ to the threat by a developer to turn the heart of Plett and its main tourist attraction, Central Beach, into a concrete jungle.”
Hundreds of people of all ages congregated on the beach to spell the word. According to the organisers, thousands more have sent emails of support and completed petitions pledging money for a potential court battle against the development.
The demonstration lasted about an hour and although it was organised by the Plettenberg Bay Ratepayers Association and Plett Environmental Forum, many others pitched in to help.
The ‘NO!’ was photographed from an aeroplane and from the nearby Beacon Isle Hotel’s roof. A strong wind made it impossible to take more aerial photos from a drone and micro-light as had been planned.
“The extent of the proposed development is quite extraordinary for a small town like Plettenberg Bay, which is pretty empty out of season,” said the organisers.
“We are keen to make it clear that we are not opposed to all development in Plett,” agreed both Rudi Martin of the Plettenberg Bay Community Environmental Forum and Bill Nell of the Plettenberg Bay Ratepayers’ Association.
“Obviously there should be development, and the Central Beach area could certainly do with an upgrade. However, this is not the right proposal for this town and we see no reason why outside developers should have a free hand in destroying our town’s most valuable asset. In fact, these developers have now for years been freezing any possibility of developing the beach front properly, since everything is in suspense while their wacky proposal is being sorted out,” they said.
It was insinuated that no one knows who the real developer is. “The ostensible developer, Western Cape Marine Investments, appears to be a shell company fronting for someone else,” said the organisers’ media statement. They further alleged that there has never been a proper tendering process.
The ratepayers further argue that should the expansive development go ahead, the recently constructed R30-million desalination plant would have to be moved at, what they believe will be, a massive cost to the ratepayer. They also raised concerns that the harbour will require constant dredging and be prone to floods and sea surges, destroying Central Beach.
“The developer’s own consultants point out that the core of the town will be turned into a massive construction site for four years, during which time most of the tourist-dependent industries – hotels, restaurants, etc. – will go bust since tourists will not want to go to Plett. The main access road to the part of town where the largest suburbs lie will get ‘totally degraded in a relatively short time’ by heavy lorry traffic, to use the consultants’ own words,” read the media statement.
The ratepayers have retained the law firm, ENS (Edward Nathan Sonnenbergs) to fight their case in court, if need be.
Meanwhile, the local rumour mill has developed a theory that the developer is planning to construct a casino at this location. It would appear that this theory springs from the absence of a valid financial viability study and people’s concerns as to how a sleepy holiday town will be able to sustain a development of this magnitude.
DA Councillor, Wayne Craig, said there had been “so much hype and emotion generated by the resuscitation of the Small Boat Harbour Project, particularly in Ward 2”, that he found it necessary to make a formal statement.
He said a resolution was passed by Council approximately 15 years ago selecting a preferred developer to submit a small-boat harbour proposal on certain terms and conditions. The present Council resolved to bring this long outstanding obligation to final resolution by giving the preferred developer notice to either withdraw the proposal or proceed with the necessary to finalise the matter.
“The municipality is in no way obliged to proceed with the actual project until a detailed and acceptable proposal is submitted to and accepted by Council,” said Craig, “In terms of the agreement reached with the previous Council, the preferred developer was granted certain rights to undertake research and carry out certain investigations and processes and thereafter present a final proposal in terms of a scoping report for the acceptance or rejection of Council.This process is still underway and the present situation is that the scoping report presented by the preferred developer at this point in time is non-compliant and the preferred developer has been placed on notice by the municipal manager to rectify the shortcomings,” he explained.
He said that the municipality is legally obliged to allow the agreed processes to take place.”The preferred developer must be given a fair opportunity to complete the agreed processes and present a compliant scoping report,” he said.
He reassured that Council would analyse and take into account the contents of the scoping report, the views expressed by Plett Tourism, the Business Chamber, other representative bodies, various lobbying groups and individuals when the time came to make a decision in the best interests of the town.
“The matter is in no sense a fait accompli. Until the agreed processes have been undertaken, a final compliant scoping report presented and a decision made by Council to proceed with the matter, the preferred developer will not acquire any rights to proceed with any development whatsoever,” said Craig.
He added that it would be wise to think carefully about taking any precipitous action that may cause harm to the town.
As with most modern protest action, people were mobilised to a large extent by the power of the social media. Barries Ferreira made a notable statement on one of the numerous online discussions, “No good thing has ever been born out of negativity, negativity breeds depression and negativity is the stuff that economic destroyers and vampires feed on. Believe it or not, but Plett, like everything else in the world, needs change to survive- call it evolution, call it adapt or die (the infinite power of change). No change can ever come from the word ‘NO’. I can bet you the word ‘NO’ never featured in any great thing that ever happened – if that was the case we would never have had aeroplanes, moon landings, crossing of oceans, the internet, iPads, iPhones, Apple, Samsung, Rock and Roll. Shouldn’t we start changing our mindsets? Shouldn’t we try to be part of a solution? How about words like: ‘I don’t like this, but how about that’ or ‘not here, how about there’. In other words, be constructive not obstructive,” he said.
Ferreira is not the only person who has questioned whether the image of a gigantic ‘NO!’ on Plett’s Central Beach when viewed out of context in years to come, will portray this holiday destination in a positive light.
The image, having made its way into the national media, elicited concern from residents in the greater Bitou region that the impression that all of Plett’s people are opposed to this development had been created. Lulamile Klaas, speaking on behalf of the people of Kwanokuthula, said that to his knowledge people were very interested in this project because they want jobs.
He said that he felt there had not been adequate consultation with residents of all wards. “Not all the people of Plett are saying ‘NO!’, Plett is not only represented by one ward,” said Klaas.
*According to the draft scoping report, the developer envisaged using 87 000m² of land for the development, including residential units, penthouses, offices, bungalows, a 110-room hotel, retail and commercial space, a plaza, yacht club and NSRI facility, space for light industry and basement and open parking. Last month, Mike Cohen, facilitator of the scoping process, said that due to the numerous objections to the proposal as well as issues identified in the draft scoping report, the developer had indicated that he would investigate ways to amend the proposal in an effort to make it “more acceptable” to the Plettenberg Bay community.
ARTICLE: CANDICE LUDICK, KNYSNA-PLETT HERALD JOURNALIST
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Source: Knysna-Plett Herald