Silvia Kinsky, Alicante Avenue
I am a resident of Table View since 1997, and it utterly disgusts me what greedy developers have done to the area (“Plan for Arum Road flats draws fire,” Tabletalk, October 9).
How can those multi-storey buildings be allowed by the responsible people? Is it corruption?
The infrastructure is simply not there to accommodate the influx of so many people.
Every good planner knows that first the infrastructure must be there before you can start building more houses and flats.
We already have water and electricity outages. Fix the infrastructure first for the people who are already living there before even thinking of inviting more people to our area.
Get rid of all the illegal structures in Dunoon. When last did a City planner or the mayor visit the N7 and Malibongwe Drive? Maybe it’s time to sort that out and make the area safer.
The traffic is already a nightmare at peak hours, but, of course, the greedy developers don’t care. They don’t live here.
It’s really disgusting how profit is put before people’s well-being and safety.
I sincerely hope that those developments and other multi-storey houses won’t be approved anymore.
Meriel Rowbottom, Sunningdale
On the front page was an article about a four-storey block of flats with 26 units, 26 parking bays, plus a foyer, plus a recreational area to be built at 106 Arum Road. The property at the moment has a single house on it.
I am horrified that the idea of fitting 26 living units on to a 992m² property is even contemplated. That is a big plot for a single house, but for 26 units with six to seven flats on each floor it is minuscule.
The parking bays alone would take a large portion of the ground area. A parking bay could be about 15m² or more (at a guess). Multiply this by 26 and you get about 400m² .
No wonder the flats are only 62m² in size– this is not even the size of two double garages.
Not only will there be at least 56 more people if not more in the space occupied by one house, they will also need reticulation for water, sewage and electricity.
Currently there is a supply for one household. Now they want to increase the supply to 26 households. The effect it will have on the neighbourhood is indescribable.
I fail to see how that can be done without affecting service delivery to the surrounding area. Are the pipes for water and sewage going to be enlarged? Is an electricity supply going to be provided for 26 individual housing units? The movement of another 26 cars on a daily basis will add to the difficulties of traffic congestion already experienced by those already living there.
What is most upsetting in the report is that only four objections have been submitted. I feel there should be more objections submitted to the council to prevent the building of the flats.
Come on, Tableviewers! Stand up for your rights and stop this unacceptable scheme before it is too late.
Liza Fechner, Arum Road
I am a resident of Arum Road in Table View. We have upwards of four properties being sold to developers for high rise apartments
Apart from the general electrical supply, sewage, traffic congestion, safety (as the properties stay vacant and vagrants move in), as a mother of three children, two of whom are still babies, I fear there won’t be enough schools in the area, never mind facilities like clinics.
We bought only two years ago, and, unbeknownst to us, the property next door was vacant (unrelated to developers).
We had break-in attempts all hours of the day, even lunchtime. All this with my oldest baby in the house with my mom. We had to increase our security extensively.
The impact of the high rises and the loss of privacy to all properties all around will impact the sales of properties in our area.
The area is so low on rentals. If only they’d allow residents to build little flatlets (which we not currently zoned for). It would make a huge difference, and additional rentals could come from the community and not just developers.
