High-density housing elicits varied reaction
Alida de Beer
G eorge Municipality's plans for highdensity developments in upmarket residential areas have elicited varied responses from the public on social media.
Open land in Rooirivierrif and the King George Park / Die Bult area as well as the George riding club land in Glenwood have been earmarked for high-density housing developments aimed at providing affordable housing to previously disadvantaged people.
The King George Association (KGA) invited the public to sign an online petition regarding the development adjacent to
King George Park, called Village Ridge. Before the newspaper went to press, chairman Godfrey Louw was not able to say how many people responded. They were planning on handing in everyone's comments at the municipality yesterday (Wednesday).
The proposed development of
4,5 hectares has a townhouse component with a density of 59 units per hectare and a single residential component (48 units per hectare). A total of 185 units is proposed. The townhouse plot sizes vary between 59m2 and 80m2 and the average size of the single residential erven is 160m2. Units will cost from about R450 000 (town houses) to approximately R850 000 (single residential). There are also three business zone erven, 11 erven for open spaces, a crèche and cellphone mast.
According to Louw, they are not against Village Ridge, but want the density to be reduced because of the impact it will have on traffic and the sense of space. "How can you propose to build 48 units on one hectare in a neighbourhood where the average erf size is between 800m2 and 900m2? Peak time traffic in and out of our suburb is already a challenge. With the additional traffic of 185 families as well as traffic from the Rooirivierrif development, it will be an impossible scenario. The highly problematic intersection at Plattner Boulevard and York Street was omitted from the traffic impact assessment report."
According to a detail plan of the project, additional traffic will be mitigated as many people will make use of public transport. Traffic lights will be put up at the CJ Langenhoven Road /
Loch Lomondry Avenue intersection and a roundabout created at the
Plattner Boulevard / Barkhuizen Drive intersection.
The plots proposed on the periphery of the property are larger to accommodate bigger units of about R1,1-million to R1,3-million to form a buffer from the lower income group housing. The developers also aim to plant fast-growing trees and shrubs in the development to further soften the impact on the environment.
Should the Rooirivierrif development go ahead, it will provide 236 single residential units, a business area on 1,3 hectares and sport and recreation facilities. The future of this development (along the Camphersdrift river) is unclear however, as the municipality has not taken a decision about its implementation.