Mt Moreland Rezoning Report July 2010-1
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ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT DEPARTMENT July 2010 REPORT TO TOWN PLANNING COMMITTEE PROPOSED AMENDMENT OF THE UMHLANGA No 1 TOWN PLANNING SCHEME BY THE ZONING OF THE MOUNT MORELAND INKONJANE AREA FOR MIXED USE AND OTHER PURPOSES IN TERMS OF SECTION 13(1)(A) OF THE PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT ACT NO 6 OF 2008. File Reference: ………………. 1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The new King Shaka International Airport (KSIA) lies approximately 35 kilometres north of Durban. The airport precinct is bordered by the MR 43 to the north, the Mhloti River to the south, the MR102 or Old Main Road to the west, and the N2 freeway between Durban and Richards Bay to the east. Located within this precinct is Mount Moreland, a small residential community less than a kilometre south of the airport’s southern support precinct. Mount Moreland formerly fell under the control of the Development and Services Board (DSB) and had no formal town planning scheme. The Mount Moreland area is significantly affected by the new airport in that it lies immediately to the south of the main and for the present only runway and consequently is significantly affected by aircraft noise. In this situation the continuation of the current residential land use will be problematic, and it is accordingly proposed to allow for alternative land uses which will be more compatible with the aircraft noise levels. Furthermore the KZN Planning and Development Commission have required in terms of a Section 48 order that the area be more appropriately zoned, given its location, than its current residential land use. The environmental authorisation for KSIA finally issued by the Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism in 2008 confirmed the somewhat tenuous situation of the existing residential development in Mount Moreland, then flanking the proposed KSIA, and instructed that noise monitoring was to be undertaken once the airport was operational and that if necessary ACSA was to install acoustic amelioration. It is accordingly proposed to zone this former DSB area for a mixed land use, designated Mixed Use: Ezinkonjaneni (The Place of Swallows), and incorporate it within the Umhlanga No1 Town Planning Scheme. It is also proposed to simultaneously zone the flanking world renowned Lake Victoria and the lesser known Froggy Pond barn swallow roosting locations for Environmental Conservation Reserve. 2. DECISION REQUIRED: A quasi-judicial decision is required to the effect that it is the intention of Council to amend the Umhlanga No 1 Town Planning Scheme in-course-of-preparation by incorporating within it and zoning the former Development and Services Board (DSB) or Umsekeli Municipal Support Services area of Mount Moreland Area from “agriculture” to amongst others zones, Mixed Use and Environmental Conservation Reserve and thereafter to advertise for public comment with a view to the eventual adoption of such proposals, all as required in terms of Chapter II of the Planning and Development Act No 6 of 2008. 1 3 LOCATION: 2 The main access to the Mount Moreland area is currently taken from District Road 757 that lead northwards from the P96 (MR27), the main link between Umhloti and Verulam that has an interchange on the N2. District Road 757 eventually connects to Charles Street, the entrance road into Mount Moreland. At this point DR 757 is joined by the P 99 that links directly to Verulam in the west. To the north of Mt Moreland, as an extension off Bond Street, lies a minor agricultural road/track that links through the cane to the main airport precinct. This track approximately follows an existing road reserve shown on the SG compilations that extends onto the KSIA site. The new KSIA access road running between the N2 and the R102 and lying to the south of the main runway is designated the M65. This road links to the N2 via a toll plaza at the Durban direction on-ramp. (See above GIS aerial photograph and KZN DOT GIS extracts). 4 EXISTING ZONING STATUS 4.1 Mount Moreland is a former Development Area which has been administered in terms of Part 5 of the Development and Services Board Regulations following the proclamation of the largely residential portion of the Townlands of Mount Moreland as a Development Area by the Administrator in 1977 in terms of Development and Services Board Ordinance No 20 of 1941. The surrounding agricultural allotments, Lake Victoria and the Marsh (Froggy Pond) were not then included. There is no existing zoning as such in place in terms of the Town Planning Ordinance No 27 of 1949 or the recently activated (on 3 May 2010) Planning and Development Act No 6 of 2008, however the individual erven are designated in terms of the original layout plan for residential purposes other than for two large sites (portion of the remainder including the public roads) which are effectively designated for public open space. 3 Portion of one of these open space sites is used for the water reservoir that serves the township. 4.2 At a meeting of the Economic Development and Planning Committee of 17 July 2008, it was resolved that the Mount Moreland area be “expunged” and included within the Umhlanga Town Planning Scheme No 1 in course of preparation. The DSB regulations remain applicable until such time as new zoning is formally adopted by Council in terms of Section 13(1) (a) of the Planning and Development Act No 6 of 2008. The preparation of a town planning scheme for Mount Moreland had previously been deemed to be approved in terms of Section 44 by the Town and Regional Planning Commission (now the KZN Planning and Development Commission) in terms of a Section 48 order. [This however was not the case – see below]. 4.3 Accordingly, the advertising of the resolution to prepare the scheme, as required in terms of Section 45 of the Town Planning Ordinance, was yet to be effected. However in any event in terms of Section 11 of Schedule 4 (Transitional Measures for Ordinance) of the Planning and Development Act No 6 of 2008, a Section 44 resolution must be treated as having lapsed upon the commencement of the new Act, if no zoning has been adopted in terms of Section 47bis or 47bis A of the Ordinance, as is the case. Note: No equivalent of Section 44 of the Ordinance (providing for prior approval by the commission to prepare or extend a scheme) is contained within the Planning and Development Act No 6 of 2008. Accordingly, when a municipality wishes to initiate an adoption of a scheme in terms of Section 9(1), in terms of Section 10(1) it immediately progresses upon taking such a decision to give public notice, as required in terms of Section 14 read with Section 15 both of Schedule 1 of the Planning and Development Act No 6 of 2008. 4.4 Following the earlier adoption by the erstwhile North Operational Entity of Special Zone 10 (Airport) and Undetermined zone within the Umhlanga No1 Town Planning Scheme for the adjacent KSIA site, the Mount Moreland residents appealed the zoning decision to the Town and Regional Planning Commission due to the then anticipate significant aircraft noise impact on the Mount Moreland area. While their appeal was not supported by the commission, one of the outcomes of the appeal was that in a letter dated 21 January 1999 the municipality was, due to the resultant incompatible airport land use zoning in close proximity to the existing residential land use, directed in terms of Section 48 to zone the whole of Mt Moreland from its existing unzoned, but residential, status to a suitable special zone that would admit the use of Airport Warehousing and for the zoning to become effective one year after the awarding of the last contract that would permit the airport to become operational. This for a variety reasons did not take place as envisaged and the King Shaka International Airport finally opened for operations on 1 May 2010. See Annexure 1 - Town and Regional Commission letter of 21 January 1999. 4.5 The Section 48 order was appealed by the municipality to the MEC on the basis that it was not the responsibility of the local authority to zone the area and that the residents of Mount Moreland had not been afforded an adequate opportunity to express their views on what they would prefer the zoning of the area to be. The appeal was however eventually withdrawn by the municipality in a letter dated 12 February 2007. 4.6 It is accordingly now necessary to effect the zoning for Mount Moreland broadly as set out in the commission’s letter of 21 January 1999 and within the framework of the North Spatial Development Plan as adopted by Council in November 2009. 4 5 NORTHERN SPATIAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN 5.1 The Northern Spatial Development Plan (SDP) of June 2009 as approved by Council, and specifically the more detailed Tongaat Dube Local Area Plan contained within it, reflect the Mount Moreland area as forming part of a larger Trade Zone surrounding the KSIA. 5.2 The SDP goes on to say that “land use planning is regarded as an important means of mitigating against the impact of airport noise and an effective means to ensure that activities near airports are compatible with aviation activities. According to the SANS 10103:2004 guidelines, “Residential development should not be allowed to fall inside the 55 dBA (LRDN noise) contour”. This includes other noise sensitive developments such as hospitals, education facilities, conference facilities and places of worship. Existing settlements that are affected by the 55 decibel contour line include Mount Moreland, Herwood Estate and parts of Waterloo.