L4 Moderate Potential
2.5 Precedents
2.5.1 Mandlazini Agric-Village Project: Richards Bay
The Mandlazini Agri Village was originally set up in terms of a Land Restoration Agreement entered into between the former Richards Bay Town Council and the Mandlazini Community Trust in 1994. The 459 hectare of land situated between Lake Mzingazi and Richards Bay airport was intended to accommodate 570 families in a planned and orderly settlement that would take the form of an agri-village. Assistance for the purchase and development of the land was sought in terms of the Provision of Land for Certain Settlements Act No. 126 of 1993.
In terms of the Designation Notice for Mandlazini Agric Village (Government Notice, No. 577, 12 April 1996) the Trust in negotiation with the former Town Council was responsible for determining appropriate bylaws for the agri- village. The following key issues underpinned the discussions on the planning and development controls:
o There should be flexibility o There is a need for some control o One set of bylaws
o Community must be involved o Incremental approach to upgrading o Support from the Town Council
o Deciding on where the community would like to see public facilities placed within the village?
o How will the placement of public phones and the possibility of a number of taxi ranks or stopping areas affect development?
o Once decision was made about where things were going to be located, how will this be controlled - what are the rules that will go with these decisions?
o On the residential plots, how will density be controlled and what sort of density do you think you should allow?
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o Any decision made should take into consideration the issue of finance, convenience, nuisance and provision of services to the public facilities.
In deliberating these issues, the Mandlazini Development Committee worked with the following principles:
o The controls should be based on agri-village planning, not town planning. The agri-village is not a township and therefore the controls on planning and development should be appropriate;
o The basic rules should be simple and clear, over time these could be amended with changing circumstances.
The zoning that was agreed upon for the agri-village are very basic and simple. (See Appendix 3)
This precedent would relate more to the informal settlement areas of Cliffdale and how one can deal appropriately with such non-cadastral based areas and its integration into the Land Use Scheme. This case study also provides insight on how simplified land use controls can be applied at first and which can be amended as circumstances changes in the village. The approaches followed in Mandlazini can be considered in the review off the Cliffdale Land Use Scheme with respect to the informal settlement areas.
2.5.2 Ntshongweni Agric-Village Project: eThekwini
The project is situated approximately 10km southeast of Mpumalanga/Hammarsdale and within the jurisdiction of the Outer West Region of the eThekwini Municipality. The project area forms part of a rural settlement known as Ntshongweni. In 2001 it was decided to settle the community on Ingonyama Trust Land in terms of the Provision of Land And Assistance Act in an agricultural type village, which was funded through the Department of Land Affair's Land Redistribution for Agricultural Development programme.
The project consist of 200 beneficiary households who live in imuzi which has accessed residential sites ranging from 600 to 1200 m2 held under freehold. Basic services has been included such as gravel roads, water and on site sanitation. The balance of the agricultural land is held jointly by a Communal Property Association.
Upon approval of the General Plan for the area, land use conditions were adopted which are enforced and administered by the Local Authority (See Annexure 4)
Similarly this precedent also provides lessons learned as to how one can apply Land Use Scheme controls to informally settled areas without considering complex development control mechanisms. The limited number of zoning typologies used in this case study provides a useful informant for the review of zoning applied to informal settlement areas in the Cliffdale case study.
2.5.3 Stockville Valley Road Plan
Stockville Valley, which consist of approximately 358ha and contains only 59 properties is situated in Gillitts, west of the Mahogony Ridge Industrial Park within the Outer West Region of eThekwini Municipality. The area has a similar character to that of Cliffdale consisting of predominately semi-rural community engaged in small-scale agricultural activities.
Stockville Valley was also subjected to a Town Planning Scheme revision in 2000. The process began with the preparation of the Stockville Local Development Plan that guide development within the valley and preparation of the scheme amendments. A subsequent Road Plan was also prepared with the intention of it forming part of the Town Planning Scheme. (See Appendix 15) Existing and proposed land use activities that were identified in the LOP have highlighted some concerns with regard to the adequacy of the existing road system. The Road Plan was to assess existing conditions, forecast growth and physical development proposals, review existing traffic conditions and produce a road plan with a rational and efficient circulation system (internal and external to the study area) that will facilitate municipal
officials to assess future development and subdivisional applications and to allocate budgets for roads and maintenance and improvements.
In semi-rural areas such as Stockville and other outer lying areas that have been amalgamated in the new municipal demarcations, much of the status of existing road circulation are unknown in respect of its legal ownership and who are responsible for their maintenance. Generally, as reported in the Stockville Road Plan Report for Stockville, roads in these areas consisted either of:
1. provincial district and main roads (unconstructed road reserves and constructed roads) which are under the "ownership" of the Department of KZN Transport;
2. Formal new roads that have been created via developments such as private townships or individual subdivisions which were then handed over the municipality for ongoing maintenance in respect of roads that have been constructed by the developer or unconstructed road reserves with the future intentions of it being constructed by the municipality when the need arises;
3. Informal roadways mostly created by residents themselves that has either remained as private roads providing access to individual houses located on large smallholdings or has over time been used by the broader public and accepted as a "public road".
4. Unknown ownership of roads that were constructed that do not align their road servitudes.
The above similar situation was found in the Road Plan prepared for the Peacevale/Summerveld area which is also located in the semi-rural western parts of eThekwini Municipality. (See Appendix 16)
At the time of preparing amendments to the Stockville Town Planning Scheme which was an conventional scheme prepared in terms of the Town Planning Ordinance, it was assumed that all existing roads and road reserves located in Stockville were public roads. The purpose of the Road Plan was also then to provide a status quo assessment in terms of ownership
and confirmation of who is responsible for the construction and maintenance of such roads.
The Road Plan resulted in recommending that the Town Planning Scheme accommodates land to be reserved for future new roads, road widening of existing roads, closure of existing roads and cancellation of some road servitudes.
The precedent highlighted above can provide further input into recommendations as how the matter of future road circulations can be dealt with effectively in Land Use Schemes through the preparation of a Road Plan. It also alludes us to the fact that existing roads within proposed scheme areas are not always formally registered as public roads and that caution must be taken when allocating zones to such roads.