Architects complain about planning delays

The Cape Institute for Architecture has complained to Mayor Dan Plato about delays and difficulties in getting approval for construction and development in Cape Town. But the city says these delays are often the result of planners submitting faulty plans or failing to understand zoning regulations.

The institute says land use restrictions and a lack of certainty around approval processes pose huge problems to planning initiatives and potential investments. Institute president Louis Steyn said the organisation's engagement with the city had all but ground to a halt towards the end of last year.

"Meetings were changed from monthly to quarterly and the chair changed from executive director to a line function official," said Steyn. This was seen as an indication of the lack of importance attached by the city to the institute's objectives.

Steyn said the "lack of will and urgency" by city officials made them question their will and ability. "It is incomprehensible that such a critical issue is not addressed and resolved quickly and efficiently."

In a survey of institute members done last October, 95 percent did not consider the planning approval and land use management service to be satisfactory, while 88 percent thought much could be done to improve service levels. The institute wants the appointment of an independent agency to review the processes and administration.

But the chairman of the Hout Bay Residents' Association and member of the Greater Cape Town Civic Alliance, Len Swimmer, said restrictions on land use were there for good reason . "Development should not be at any cost, the sustainable development policy is a good one. Otherwise we would have concrete from mountains to the sea, and on every available space." He said the length of time needed for approval and processing could be due to shortages of staff or a shortage of adequately trained staff.

"Sometimes wrong decisions are made by city planners and this requires that objections have to be made and interviews sought by civic organisations and ratepayers to get a more realistic decision.
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Cheryl Walters, director of the city's planning and building development management department, said the city had asked the institute to forward details of problems with the processing of plans to them. "In instances where they have raised an issue we have often found there is a lack of compliance by the applicant. This is due to a lack of appreciation and understanding of the zoning scheme regulations and building regulations by the architectural fraternity."

Walters said a recent survey by the department into allegations of delays found 66 percent of land use planning ordinance applications received by them were non-compliant. The department was constantly re-engineering its processes to improve service delivery, she said.

Cape Argus

Posted at 10:03AM Aug 02, 2010 by Editor in Industry  |