Final Environmental Impact Assessment Report for the Cornubia Retail Park A Report for Tongaat Hulett Developments 8 August 2013 DM/0034/2012 KZN/EIA/0000802/2012 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION Client: Tongaat Hulett Developments Project Name: Environmental Impact Assessment for the Proposed Cornubia Retail Park Development, eThekwini Municipality, KZN Royal HaskoningDHV Reference Number: E02.DUR.000484 Authority Reference Number: DM/0034/2012 KZN/EIA/0000802/2012 Compiled by: Humayrah Bassa Date: 8 August 2013 Location: Durban Review: Prashika Reddy _____________________________ Signature Approval: Malcolm Roods _____________________________ Signature © Royal HaskoningDHV All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without the written permission from Royal HaskoningDHV. PUBLIC REVIEW OF THE FINAL ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT REPORT Royal HaskoningDHV (RHDHV) would like to thank all Interested and Affected Parties (I&APs) for their continued participation and input into this Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process. The comments received to date have proven invaluable to this process and we do appreciate your time and effort. The Draft Environmental Impact Assessment Report (EIAR) has been made available for comment for a period of 40 days from Monday 20 May 2013 until Friday 28 June 2013. All comments which were received have been critical in the finalisation of this final EIAR. The comments received to date are included in a Comments and Responses Report which is provided in Appendix D. The final EIAR will be available for a further commenting period of 21 days after which it will be submitted to the Department of Agriculture and Environmental Affairs (DAEA) for acceptance. The details of the assessing officer for this application is provided below: Ms. Shanthinie Francis Department of Agriculture and Environmental Affairs - Directorate: Environmental Services Private Bag X54321 Durban 4000 Tel: 031 302 2849 Fax: 031 302 2888 E-mail: [email protected] I&APs are therefore notified of the availability of the final EIAR and the opportunity to review the final document for a further period of 21 days from Thursday 8 August 2013 to Wednesday 28 August 2013 prior to submission to the Department. Comments must be submitted to: Ms. Humayrah Bassa Royal HaskoningDHV 6 Payne Street, Pinetown, 3606 Tel: (031) 719 5551 Fax: (031) 719 5505 E-mail: [email protected] DUE DATE FOR COMMENT ON FINAL ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT REPORT WEDNESDAY 28 AUGUST 2013 Executive Summary Introduction and Background Tongaat Hulett Developments propose to develop approximately 48 hectares of land in Mount Edgecombe into a Retail Park. The proposed site is currently a greenfields site under sugarcane cultivation. The proposed site falls within the overall, Municipality approved Cornubia Development Framework. The project will consist of large scale retail and commercial buildings developed on earth-worked platforms to cater to the surrounding region. The project includes the construction of new roads and upgrading to existing road networks as well as the installation of new services including gravity sewer lines, water pipelines, electrical cabling and stormwater attenuation. It is further proposed that the existing Mount Edgecombe Refuse Transfer Station will be relocated. A waste management licence has been applied for the relocation of the waste transfer facility and a Basic Assessment study is being undertaken to address the waste specific requirements only. All infrastructural requirements of the new Station, including proposed access roads which traverse wetlands are addressed as part of this EIA as well as to enable the construction of the new facility on existing greenfield land. The above proposal is based upon a Development Framework Plan (Figure 1-3) for the entire Cornubia Project which was approved and adopted by the eThekwini Municipality for the whole of Cornubia in 2011. Due to the extent of the development, it will be developed on a phased basis. This EIA Application Process is for the Retail Park component only which is separate to the Phase 1 (DM/Amend/0189/08 - complete) and Phase 2 (DM/0030/2012 - current) EIAs and the Mount Edgecombe Refuse Transfer Station relocation Basic Assessment (DM/WML/0041/2012 - current). The need to isolate this portion of the Cornubia Framework Plan relates to the fact that it is a very small component, it is clearly defined in the Framework plan and there are already committed investors who would like to develop the properties as soon as possible. As the development is aligned with the Framework Plan it is proposed that it is expedited in order to enable this significant new investment to be made. Regulatory Environmental Requirements The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Agriculture and Environmental Affairs (KZN DAEA), is the lead authority and any EIA process in KwaZulu-Natal needs to be authorised by this Department in accordance with the National Environmental Management Act (NEMA) (No 107 of 1998)(as amended). The EIA Regulations (2010) under the NEMA consist of three categories of activities namely: Listing Notice 1 Activities (GNR. 544 of 2010) which require a Basic Assessment study, Listing Notice 2 Activities (GNR. 545 of 2010) which require both a Scoping and an EIA study for authorisation and Listing Notice 3 Activities (GNR 546 of 2010) which requires a Basic Assessment study to be undertaken in specific geographical areas. The activities associated with the proposed project amongst others triggered activities contained in GNR 545 and as such a Scoping and EIA process will be undertaken for the development. Public Participation Process Royal HaskoningDHV (previously known as SSI Engineers and Environmental Consultants) are conducting the Public Participation Process (PPP) for this project. In recent years Tongaat Hulett Developments has actively promoted a participatory approach to their property development projects, with the understanding that the socio-political and economic context as well as environmental legislation requires this public approach. Interested and affected parties are invited to “inform and be informed” about developments in order to achieve the most participation as possible. It is also noted that engaging stakeholders even before developments are built can be seen as best environmental practice. It is for this reason that the PPP which forms part of the EIA becomes the basis of a long-term stakeholder engagement process. Environmental Impact Assessment Report and Purpose of the Report In line with the requirements of the NEMA EIA Regulations, this EIA Report provides a detailed description of the pre-development environment, specifically in terms of the biophysical and socio-economic environment of the study area. Furthermore, the report provides a comprehensive description of the activities as well as numerous specialist studies undertaken for the EIA Phase and Public Participation Process (PPP), as well as the way forward in the form of conclusions, recommendations and a draft Environmental Management Programme (EMPr). WE ARE AT THIS STAGE To ensure the completeness of the EIA and Draft EMPr, specialists surveyed the area to identify the potential impacts of the project on the area. The following specialist studies were conducted for the Cornubia Retail Park Project and are included within the Appendices of this EIA report: SPECIALIST STUDY ORGANISATION Agricultural Potential Assessment Mottram & Associates Vegetation Assessment SiVest Wetland Assessment SiVest Geotechnical Assessment Drennan Maud & Partners Cultural Heritage Assessment eThembeni Cultural Heritage Traffic Impact Assessment SMEC South Africa In addition to the above specialist studies, the following reports have been prepared in support of the EIA study: SPECIALIST STUDY ORGANISATION Planning Report IYER Urban Design Studio Engineering Services Report SMEC South Africa Stormwater Management Plan SMEC South Africa Electrical Services Report Bosch Additions/revisions from the draft EIAR to the final EIAR have been underlined for ease of reference to the reader. Alternatives Given the fact that a lengthy and detailed process was followed by the applicant in partnership with the eThekwini Municipality which produced a Development Framework Plan that was finally adopted by the Municipality, no offsite alternatives have been investigated. However, two site layout alternatives were presented in the Environmental Scoping Phase – Alternative Site 1 (preferred alternative) which includes land owned by the South African Sugar Association (SASA) and Alternative Site 2 which excludes land owned by the SASA. Alternative Site 1 has previously been presented through this EIA process whilst Tongaat Hulett Development and SASA continued negotiations regarding the development of the SASA owned land (as the preferred alternative) for the Cornubia Retail Park, however as a result of a lack of finality to the negotiations, layouts have been amended to reflect the alternative which excludes SASA owned land – referred to as the revised preferred alternative. As the EIA process has progressed, it is now deemed unlikely that an agreement will be reached between Tongaat Hulett Developments and SASA, however negotiations are ongoing, hence the inclusion of this alternative option into the EIAR, albeit the least preferred. As the EIA process has progressed, no agreement between the parties has been forthcoming and