The unauthorised construction of a telecommunications station on Farm 730/19 on Paarl Road, Muldersvlei, has been halted.
The satellite dishes put up earlier this year form part of a land use application from town planner Anton Lotz Town and Regional Planning on behalf of their client, Master Power Technologies, for municipal consent to construct a Freestanding Base Telecommunications Station.
As the application was still pending, the work was done without authorisation, with neighbouring landowners also complaining about a lack of public consultation and the use of private roads for construction activities.
This prompted the municipality to act. “We are fully aware of the activities on the property and are actively addressing the matter.
“It is important to note that all work currently being carried out on the site is unauthorised. The developer has ignored three cease order notices that were formally issued by the municipality,” says Stuart Grobbelaar, spokesperson for the Stellenbosch Municipality.
The notices issued are in terms of the municipality’s Land Use Planning By-Laws.
The last notice to the developer was issued on September 9 and the municipality confirmed to Bolander that they are now in the process of pursuing legal action against the developers to follow to the cease orders.
Mr Lotz confirmed the receipt of the municipal notices and said construction activities on the site in question had been stopped and the municipality had been informed.
Neighbours alerted Bolander to the illegal construction activities after they were not consulted about the building plans.
In response to being excluded in the initial consultations process, concerned parties launched a petition opposing construction.
This petition was circulated on social media platforms in a bid to get the activities halted. Concerns raised in the petition included the detrimental effects and damage on the natural environment, the unauthorised construction, lack of community input and the disregard for neighbours’ objections.
The Stellenbosch Municipality confirmed that in their investigation they determined that no environmental authorisation was obtained for the development.
“We have also engaged with the Department of Environmental Affairs and Development Planning, which has confirmed that no environmental authorisations have been issued for this development. Furthermore, there is currently no Environmental Impact Study application under consideration for the site,” the municipality disclosed.
One of the landowners in the vicinity of the development said he saw construction work taking place on the land around mid-June and started making enquiries, but only received official notification of the development plans on August 13, from the town planner.
Initially, he said they were told that the development entailed the construction of a data bank. After receiving an official notice detailing the development, he lodged an official objection to the development of the telecommunications station.
“What bothered us a lot, is while we know there will be development in future, we understand that, but you’ve got to follow the proper procedures. So, our concern is there is a lot of vacant land here and if you could see the investment in the last three-five years it’s agricultural land, so logistically our area, we’re well suited because of the N1 and we finding farms are being bought up and they’re putting up pack houses for agricultural products, but they are not farming the products here.”
His concern is that the vacant agricultural land in the surrounding areas owned by landowners not residing there, will be targeted as a free-for-all opportunity where anyone can buy the land and establish developments without following the correct and required legal protocols.
“We fall under agricultural area zones, so we don’t fall under industrial zoned land. One is not against development, but just follow the legal procedures.”
Mr Lotz said three objections and three letters of no objection were received.
