A developer wants to build a nine-storey block of flats in Bergvliet.
Asrin Developers has applied to the City to rezone 382 Main Road, a 1707m² site, from General Business (GB1) to General Business (GR4) for the 78-unit block.
Monday October 5 is the closing date for comments and objections.
The application, by Nigel Burls and Associates on behalf of Asrin, also seeks to build on the Main Road boundary instead of 5 meters from it and a departure for a floor space of 4437,95 m² instead of 4128 m².
According to the application, Asrin’s head office is on the site and the company has already built a block of flats on an adjacent property. That block and the proposed one will have a single common access off Main Road.
Sandy Thring lives in Royale On Main, a complex next to the site, and fears a development there will not be good news for her complex or for others nearby, Norfolk Heights and The Lofts.
Royale On Main and Norfolk Heights residents would be objecting, she said.
“I think, environmentally, Tokai/Bergvliet is a suburban area and such a building, which we feel may then be the highest in the area, would have a profound negative effect on the traffic in Main Road Tokai, which is already a huge problem,” she said.
The site is is surrounded by a mix of land uses including General Residential, General Business, Single Residential, Community and Transport zones.
The application argues the proposed development is compatible with surrounding uses, including group housing and flats to the north, north west, west and south west.
The “medium density residential scheme”, it says, fits in with activity on the main road and the transport hub in Retreat as well as with the mix of social and institutional, commercial, retail and industrial uses around the site.
The application notes 78 flats require 96 parking bays but it seeks a departure to allow for only 92. It says the mix of one- and two-bedroom flats in the block will be conveniently situated and affordable, and the development will tap into existing engineering infrastructure and public facilities.
“By providing a range of unit sizes and broadening the range of affordability and demand in the area, the development promotes the effective and equitable functioning of land markets and is in support of viable communities,” the application says.
Winnie Craythorne, secretary of the Bergvliet/Meadowridge Ratepayers’ Association, said the site fell under the ambit of a Kirstenhof civic group.
“We have not had any complaints from our members in Bergvliet living in close proximity to the subject property,” she said.
Carolynne Franklin, chairwoman of the Kirstenhof and Environs Residents’ Association (KERA) said they had no plans to object at this time.
Asrin could not be reached for comment by the time this story went to print. They did not respond to an email and calls to their offices over the course of several days went unanswered.