As part of this administration’s efforts towards building an Opportunity City, a city in which investments will grow so that jobs can be created, the City of Cape Town is gearing up for the imminent roll-out of its new zoning scheme (CTZS in short), which will be implemented from 1 March 2013.
Promulgated in November last year, the CTZS seeks to replace the previous 27 separate sets of zoning scheme regulations that applied in the various former municipal jurisdictions now making up the City of Cape Town. In so doing, we are streamlining the process of economic development in the city.
“We are pulling out all the stops to ensure complete readiness on day one, and a smooth transition to the new system. Preparedness measures included a number of training initiatives, adjusting systems and operational procedures, and making information available to stakeholders via various channels and forums. In addition, all approximately 800 000 properties in the city have been allocated an appropriate zone in terms of the new scheme,” said Councillor Garreth Bloor, Mayoral Committee Member for Economic, Environmental and Spatial Planning.
“The City has also engaged with industry stakeholders on an ongoing basis, such as the professional bodies representing planners, architects and other built environment professionals, to ensure that any concerns are addressed proactively.
“The new modernised zoning scheme constitutes one of the cornerstones of Cape Town’s rationalised, policy-driven Land Use Management system. It serves as a mechanism to implement the City’s spatial development vision and responds to the current challenges and needs facing the City with greater innovation and sustainability.
“Setting new uniform standards and simplified and equitable rules for land use and development across the city, the new scheme’s rationalised and more modern regulations (involving a reduction of 1 507 pages of regulations to 185 pages) will help the City’s drive to cut red tape and reduce the cost of compliance. This will assist in setting up an enabling framework for development in line with of the ‘Opportunity City’ strategic objective, one of the five pillars of the Integrated Development Plan for our current term of office,” said Councillor Bloor.
For more information or advice regarding the new zoning scheme, property owners and prospective or current applicants should approach their nearest District Planning Office (of which there are eight spread across the city) for assistance.
The new Cape Town Zoning Scheme can also be downloaded from the City’s central planning portal at http://planning.capetown.gov.za
The zoning of individual properties on the converted zoning map can be viewed at the same address. Enquiries of a general nature can be directed to lums@capetown.gov.za
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