The City of Cape Town has proposed numerous amendments and new provisions to the Municipal Planning By-Law as part of its five-year review process.
One of the new provisions will enable the City to impound moveable property, among machinery and equipment, that is used for illegal building work when an order to halt construction is ignored.
According to the City’s Deputy Mayor and Mayoral Committee Member for Spatial Planning and Environment, Alderman Eddie Andrews, this provision will give the municipality immediate recourse as some developers ignore stop work orders as they are prepared to pay the fines involved. Not only do these matters often take time to be concluded in court but they impact surrounding communities who seek legal recourse.
The proposed conditions for this provision include:
- The land owner, contractor, and third-party owner risk impoundment of their moveable property if the owner disobeys or causes the contractor to disobey the stop work order.
- The owner must notify a contractor and third-party owner of an order to stop work within five days of issue.
- The City may issue the notice of its intention to impound moveable property to the person in charge of the work; display the order at the entrance to the property where the illegal work is taking place; or by email.
- Affected parties will have the opportunity to give representation to the City as to why the property should not be impounded. The power to impound is discretionary.
- Obstruction or prevention of the impoundment is an offence.
- Impounded property will be released on payment of the administrative penalty fee as well as the costs of removal and storage.
- The City may apply to court for leave to sell or to dispose of impounded property that is not reclaimed within the applicable timeframes.
“The proposed amendments and new provisions must ensure the MPBL is responsive to Cape Town’s unique built environment and social reality. It also reflects the outcome of litigation in this space,” he says.
For example, the City recently imposed a record R1 million penalty for unauthorised building work in Belville despite the municipality ordering a notice to stop construction in September 2022. The developer continued to build and tenanted the illegal apartment block. The City approached the High Court for relief and successfully obtained an order by October 2023.
“This case demonstrates the challenges the City faces when dealing with unauthorised building work. I believe the new proposed impoundment provision will assist us in dealing with those who display a flagrant disregard of our building and planning regulations.”
The other amendments and provisions, intended to make it easier to build and to develop in the city, include:
- Single residential zoning to be renamed ‘Residential Zoning (R1)’, providing for single-family dwelling houses and additional use rights in low- to medium-density residential neighbourhoods.
- New primary uses for R1 such as electric vehicle charging stations, small-scale energy infrastructure, and micro wind turbines.
- Additional use rights for R1 among which are affordable rental flats, supplementary dwelling units, and place of instruction.
- An ‘affordable rental flat’, a new proposed additional use right on properties within 194 identified areas across Cape Town to enable the development of small scale affordable rental accommodation in these areas. It is proposed that the number of small scale affordable rental units on a single property may not exceed eight units plus a dwelling house, or twelve units if there is no dwelling house on the land.
- The introduction of incentive overlay zones (IOZs) for development focus areas in Athlone, Maitland, Parow/Elsies River, Bellville and Diep River with the intention to assign additional and enhanced development rights to properties that fall within these zones.
- Amendments to emergency housing provisions to enable the municipality to provide temporary housing on land that may not be zoned for such a purpose for a twelve-month period without needing to undertake a public participation process beforehand.
- New additions under Section 122 to to allow the City to revoke or amend an approval or a building plan approval; to approve a replacement building, and to regularise a contravention without the need for judicial review.
- Revised or new definitions for ‘boarding house,’ ‘guesthouse,’ ‘hotel,’ ‘affordable rental flat,’ ‘affordable rental unit,’ ‘commune,’ ‘electric vehicle charging station,’ ‘small-scale energy structure,’ ‘medium-scale energy structure,’ ‘micro wind turbine,’ ‘outdoor restaurant dining area’ etc.
- To allow the City to use email as its method of communication with cooperation from ratepayers and the construction industry.
According to Alderman Andrews, the municipality receives a significant number of comments from the public, internal City departments, the construction industry, and other spheres of government. “The City’s Development Management Department assesses these comments to see how we can improve and simplify our planning by-law and the prescribed processes, provide greater clarity, and strengthen our mandate to facilitate and promote social and economic development,” he says.
The proposed revised Municipal Planning By-law and an explanatory document to guide comments are available on the City’s website.
Comments and recommendations can be submitted online or via email.
Residents, interested and affected parties, can peruse the draft revised MPBL and to submit their comments by the 23rd of September 2024.
