An “entrenched colonial-era mindset” informed town planning, and it had to change, an eThekwini Municipality official said.
|||Durban’s “residential only” neighbourhoods are a thing of the past.
This is the word from Soobs Moonsammy, Head: Development Planning Environment and Management for eThekwini Municipality, in response to complaints from Sunday Tribune readers about illegal businesses in residential areas.
Moonsammy, slammed by the opposition DA as running a department out of control, said an “entrenched colonial-era mindset” informed town planning, and it had to change.
But the DA and ratepayer groups said she was making excuses for not doing her job properly.
They said her department’s failure to deal with “an explosion” of illegal businesses was destroying residential areas and threatening the city’s rates base.
Moonsammy said the recession was contributing to the rapid growth of small businesses in residential or mixed-use neighbourhoods and up to 30 percent of any residential home or 40m2 (whichever is the lesser) could legitimately be converted to business use.
“Once your application is approved it is up to you whether the extra rooms in your B&B are rented out daily, weekly or by the hour.”
She said her department could not replicate the efforts of the police and, provided that other city and health bylaws were not infringed, and there was no negative effect on neighbours (such as chemical emissions, major traffic congestion or high noise levels), it would probably be approved.
“If a homeowner has students renting out rooms, rather than family members using them, then the town planning designation for that building has not altered in its essence and a rezoning application would not need to be submitted.
“We must be realistic. Town planning is directly linked to economics. Our city can’t continue to flourish with exclusive no-go zones that block development.”
She said that between 2004 and 2006 there had been an exodus of residents from areas like the Berea to gated communities in Umhlanga and the Upper Highway.
Moonsammy said that while residential areas were changing to mixed use, it was not as though her department was a walkover.
It had limited power to act, but her 202 enforcement officers issued more than 6 000 notices of infringement and 42 350 summonses a year. She has 66 cases in the High Court.
Two environmental officers handle about 70 cases a year and inspectors remove up to 1 500 illegal signs each month.
Moonsammy said that unscrupulous businesses were aided by outdated legislation which meant sanctions were limited. “The means at our disposal to deal quickly with transgressors are ineffective.”
She said wily businessmen had “at least two bites of the cherry” because if her department denied permission, they could still apply to the city manager and provincial government.
“If we were to be a policing body, we would never have enough inspectors.”
Dean MacPherson, DA councillor for Durban North, said illegal businesses in residential areas were the biggest threat to suburbs.
“They decimate property values and erode the city’s rates base. The problem stems from poor enforcement in Moonsammy’s department. She doesn’t have the capacity to enforce the bylaws and some areas, like Sparks and Randles roads, are probably beyond the point of recall.
“Moonsammy doesn’t appear to be answerable to anyone. Hers is the most important department in the municipality and the city manager and councillors have no idea how to regulate it.”
MacPherson said, in 2011, he had made a proposal to a full council to amend the bylaws and give defaulters 60 days to conform, or their properties would be forfeit to council.
The motion got full council approval but it was never enacted, he said.
Lilian Develing, chairman of the Hillcrest and Combined Ratepayers Association, said there had been “an explosion” of illegal businesses in the Highway area.
“Values are going to nosedive in some of Durban’s best areas, and the city fathers will only wake up when it is too late to reverse the trend. It will reach critical mass and then there will be a meltdown. Some suburbs will never recover.” - Sunday Tribune