- Since the arrival of storage containers at the Riverview Church of Christ in Lakeside two months ago, they have been “fully booked” and the search for alternative premises was reportedly unsuccessful.
- Metric Storage had until Friday 19 January to remove around 100 shipping containers after the City of Cape Town served a compliance notice due to the church premises being zoned for residential use.
- The City has since instituted legal action in the Western Cape High Court for relief to enforce compliance with the City’s Municipal Planning By-law, Development Management Scheme (DMS) and Building Act.
Since the arrival of storage containers at the Riverview Church of Christ in Lakeside two months ago, they have been “fully booked” and the search for alternative premises was reportedly unsuccessful.
Metric Storage had until Friday 19 January to remove around 100 shipping containers after the City of Cape Town served a compliance notice due to the church premises being zoned for residential use.
The City has since instituted legal action in the Western Cape High Court for relief to enforce compliance with the City’s Municipal Planning By-law, Development Management Scheme (DMS) and Building Act.
On Monday 29 January, Deputy Mayor and Mayco member for spatial planning and environment Eddie Andrews confirmed that the court application was served on the respondents on Thursday 25 January.
“The City has no further comment, given that this matter is now before the court for determination.”
Respondents in the case include Metric Storage Containers and Trailers (Pty) LTD, Riverview Church of Christ, Trustees of the Church of Christ, Trustees of Riverview Church of Christ Trust, Bijou Makembe and Honore Mbembo Makembe.
People’s Post could not get comments from other respondents due to our print deadline.
Meanwhile, the owner of Metric Storage, Dealtry Pickford, claims after failed attempts to enter into dialogue with the City to assist with alternative solutions, the containers remain on the premises.
“The City refused to engage in dialogue with us although we tried to talk to them and arrange a meeting. I handed everything over to my attorney to deal with.”
Pickford says it is disappointing that no alternative solutions could be found in the interim.
“If the City could provide me with alternative land, I would absolutely move, but the City has not offered any solutions and that is the problem. The City has a lot of land. They could assist not only me but the community too by solving the problem and offering an alternative location, which is why we wanted to have a dialogue.”
Meanwhile, on social media, residents called the containers an “eyesore”.
“Get used to the eyesore people, we’re in for a long battle! I saw gardening efforts in front of the containers, which makes me believe this is a permanent feature,” one wrote.
Another resident wrote that it was “disgusting” that the City had taken no action.
“The deadline has sailed past and this illegal operation is just busy firmly embedding itself. Their logic is once it’s up and operational then the required zoning changes will be sped through . . . you know the story of SA, the law is just a minor inconvenience that can be rectified by greasing a few palms,” another wrote.
A third resident wrote that the storage facility had no intention of moving.
“As an astute businessman he knows the legal cogs move very slowly and, as a result, will stall the process through any means necessary to keep his operation running on the church premises.”
Pickford tells People’s Post that he is saddened by the local community’s reaction. “We are saddened by the community’s reaction because we are long-standing members of the community and did everything to follow the procedure but maybe we were procedurally incorrect.
“The impression is that it was intentional, but that is not the case. We followed the advice of people we employed.
“We want to maintain a good relationship with the local community and we understand their objections.”
Pickford added while there are people “making a lot of public noise” there is a need for storage container facilities in the southern suburbs.
“We have submitted our proposal to mitigate the container site by landscaping and we have already planted 200 trees to completely obscure the containers to lessen the visual impact.
“There are a lot of people making a lot of noise publicly about it but the problem is that there is a huge need for storage.”
He added that the 100 containers are full, which included existing clients.
“The storage is 100% full and we continue to receive calls every day about storage.”
