The Mercury
A warehouse looms over the exclusive Mount Edgecombe golf estate where 890 home owners say they are prepared to fight tooth and nail to have it removed. Picture: Shelley Kjonstad
Durban – Residents of the upmarket Mount Edgecombe golf estate have dashed to the Durban High Court seeking to stop the construction of a looming “eyesore”, a steel-framed warehouse 20m from some of their doorsteps and the “signature 16th hole” on the golf course.
The residents and owners, through their management association, say the owners of the adjacent property, Moss Ridge Properties, are building without any consent from the municipality and have been ignoring “stop work” notices issued by the city.
They want a judge to order that construction stop immediately so they have a chance to properly object to the warehouse.
When the matter came before Judge Themba Sishi on Monday, an order was taken by consent essentially agreeing to fast-track the dispute with all papers to be filed by July 24 so that it can be heard on July 25.
In the meantime, the company has agreed to stop construction until July 26.
The warehouse looms large over the entire Mount Edgecombe Two estate which comprises 890 houses all situated around the golf course and enclosed by a 2m-high electrified fence.
In his affidavit in the urgent application, estate manager Terrance Keller said it was “generally accepted” that the estate was one of the finest residential golf club estates in the country.
The estate and Moss Ridge Properties shared a common border which was very close to the 16th hole “known as the signature hole because of its design, surrounded by water features” and which was used as a focal point for marketing the estate.
Keller said the company began construction of the warehouse – which is about 15m high – in June, with the erection of a steel structure and arches.
He had immediately arranged a meeting with a municipal building inspector, Ramesh Juthan, who informed him that the plans had all been approved, except for the stormwater management plan.
“According to him the construction was in keeping with the applicable town planning scheme and the building would not offend the height restriction of 15m,” Keller said.
“From the plans it was evident that the construction involved a very large warehouse and distribution centre occupying several hundred square metres of the property.
“Construction was taking place about 20m from our common boundary. As the land slopes upwards from the estate, the company’s property is in an elevated position.”
Keller said the association wanted to meet the developers of the land to express concern about the “potential eyesore” but, before this took place, the association’s attorney again met city building inspectors who disclosed that the plans had not been approved and the city had, in fact, issued notices to stop construction.
The association immediately lodged a formal objection to the plans being approved, which was also delivered to the architect involved in the project and to the company itself, along with a warning that if construction did not stop, the association would go to court for an interdict.
But, Keller said, their demands were not heeded and construction continued.
He said many home owners, especially the residents of the “sought after” Quail Valley, were concerned about the unsightly development and wanted it stopped altogether because, as provided for in the town planning scheme, they believed it was “not harmonious with the development in the area”.
In a separate affidavit, Shaun Duminy, a trustee of the Celestial Paradigm Family Trust, which bought a property on the estate in 2010 for more than R10 million, said he believed the “unsightly development” would derogate this value.
In his objection to the city, he says: “Notwithstanding that the construction of light industrial facilities may be permitted in terms of existing zoning… the developers should be required to consider a more sensitive form of development plan to balance competing rights of a property owner to develop its property against the rights of neighbours to protect their amenities and property values.”
tania.broughton@inl.co.za
The Mercury
