PLANNING SCHEME AND MANAGEMENT ~REAS
5.5 Environmental Management
The environmental management mechanisms used in Cliffdale departed significantly from existing Town Planning Schemes to the extent that it moved away from open space reservations to environmental service zones and introduced the concept of an Environmental Management Overlay. At the time of undertaking the work it was argued that Land Use Schemes should be based on a full assessment of the environmental services required for the sustainable development of the area.
Fortunately for Cliffdale, the area is situated in a municipality, which has had a Metropolitan Open Space System, first prepared in 1979 which has evolved over time. Most municipalities do not have the benefit of a MOSS system and would have to rely on the C-Plan information from KZN Widlife. The latter is a product from the Ezemvelo KwaZulu-Natal Wildlife who have produced GIS based mapping that identifies 'irreplaceable areas' which are critically important to the survival of certain species within KwaZulu-Natal and cannot be lost, and 'negotiated areas" that are very important conservation areas. Sustainability of development is essential to consider and/or conserve the environment. Planners must focus on ensuring the ability of the environment to provide the necessary services to sustain development.
As Land Use Schemes are concerned with the use and development of land, it is critical that issues of sustainability and environmental service provision are
considered in Scheme preparation. It is also important for environmental policies and requirements that affect the use and development of land to be explicit. These policies and requirements should be written into the Scheme where appropriate.
The alignment of Land Use Schemes with environmental considerations must occur when preparing the SOF and then followed through in the preparation of the Scheme. Environmental issues should be included in the overall policies, statements on intent and in all individual zones and not only the environmental zones. The work undertaken by KZN Wildlife will be incorporated into the requirements of the Bio-diversity Act, Act No. 10 of 2004 and Protected Areas Act, Act No. 57 of 2003. The Bio-diversity Act requires the preparation of a national bio- diversity framework. It provides for the determination of a geographic region as a bioregion by the provincial minister as well as the publication of a management plan of bio-diversity for the bioregion. The Act stipulates that a national bio-diversity framework, bioregional plan and bio-diversity management plan prepared in terms of the Act may not be in conflict with any lOP or SOF that has been prepared. They must align with existing lOPs or SOFs. Areas defined in terms of the Protected Areas Act must also be incorporated into Scheme preparation and management. (LUMS Manual,2004)
The current Town Planning Scheme model only caters for public open spaces in the form of active and passive recreational areas that are reserved for such purposes only. Reserved areas are mostly owned by the state or local government as local authorities are obliged to purchase the land within a 5 year period or enter into an agreement with the land owner within this time. Reservations generally contain no land use or density controls. It therefore provides limited scope to be applied to other types of environmental areas, especially the sensitive types that are found on private owned properties that require specific management.
The LUMS Manual (2001) describes that " a municipality may wish to make use of an overlay to depict an area of environmental importance or an Environmental Service Area:
• Where it is impractical to zone an area as an environmental zone due to existing zones that are in place.
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• Where it is appropriate to zone an area for a particular use, but where additional controls are required to sustain the provision of specific environmental services in an area".
The preparation of the overlay can be informed by the full set of environmental informants listed here under as defined in the LUMS Manual: (Such informants were also used in the preparation and determination of the Cliffdale Environmental Management Areas)
• 1: 50 year and 1: 100 year flood lines;
• Catchment areas;
• Bio-diversity GIS system;
• Bio-Resource units and Ecotypes (areas of agricultural potential);
• Core conservation/fully functional ecosystems providing a full complement of ecological services;
• Links between core areas/partially functional ecosystems;
• Isolated portions of the open space system which are not linked to the other areas, but which provide important stepping stones in the overall ecosystem.
• Areas where urban agriculture mayor may not occur;
• Areas where the harvesting of indigenous vegetation mayor may not occur;
• Important View Sheds;
• Coastal management areas;
• Other elements that a municipality may identify in an Environmental
Management Plan e.g. sites of cultural or ecological significance.. (LUMS Manual,2004)
The use of an overlay implies that there will be a parallel element of management applied to the area depicted on the overlay. The management choice may in some instances be to undertake no or little management, however this is a conscious decisions when using an overlay, not an oversight. The area depicted on an Environmental Management Area overlay does not have to be cadastrally defined. It may be based on other factors such as the extent of a floodline or the extent of a particular important habitat as was done in the case of Cliffdale.
An Environmental Service Overlay should be linked to a schedule that lists the following:
• Purpose of the management area overlay;
• Categorization of areas;
• Environmental significance, ecosystem service provided, and objectives;
• Development requirements for each area depicted on the overlay;
• Decision guidelines. (LUMS Manual, 2004)
Some of the reasons for the categorization of areas are asfollows:
• To identify areas where the development of land may be affected by environmental constraints.
• To ensure that development is compatible with the sustainable provision of environmental services identified for an area. (LUMS Manual, 2004)
Seppings, et ai, 2001, in a research on "Guidelines for Environmental Management Mechanisms for Inclusion in Planning Schemes" recommends an advancement of the previous environmental related controls prepared with respect to Cliffdale. The areas that were previously depicted as Functional or Partially Functional on the overlay could be categorized as follows:
• No development:
The area provides, or potentially provides, important environmental services within extremely fragile/sensitive ecosystems. (This would include Protected Areas such as National Parks or Nature Reserves)
• Environmental education and eco-tourism developmentonly:
The area provides, or potentially provides, a full range of environmental services within a fragile ecosystem (including Natural Monument/Heritage area, Private Nature Reserves).
• Development with full environmental assessment:
The area provides, or potentially provides, a full range ofvalued services (including Protected Landscape Areas). Development permitted subject to rigorous environmental assessment, project environmental management plans, and mitigation measures.
• Environmental service interlace area:
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Area providing, or potentially providing, a critical ecological support function to the above three areas to sustain the environmental service provision of these areas. Development managed through specific development
requirements and EMPs .
• Other areas identified asproviding environmental services not covered above.
Linked to each component would be a set of specific requirements to manage land use within those areas. These requirements could be documented in a specific Environmental Management Plan for an area which is referred to in the scheme, or listed in a template or a set of clauses within the scheme. (Seppings et ai, 2001)