Audacious proposal
THE recently revealed proposal to develop an environmentally sensitive piece of land next to the Duck Pond will have set off alarm bells in people's heads who remember a proposal several years ago to build a petrol station on the site.
That proposal was shot down, but the municipal-owned land is viewed as a prime spot and now marina developer Justin de Wet Steyn has come up with a proposal to build a shopping complex there with Checkers as the anchor tenant.
In casual conversations with fellow residents, many remark how much they would appreciate having a Checkers in town, but many too would disapprove of the land next to the Duck Pond being developed into a shopping complex.
As one of the committee members reminded when the matter was discussed in Ward 10 last week, the site was bequeathed to the municipality as a bird sanctuary and already functions as such, even if it does not have official status.
According to De Wet Steyn, this is Checkers' "site of choice” and if it cannot be accommodated there it may be "forced” to locate in a position between the East Bank of the Kowie River and Nemato, which "would result in fragmentation of the CBD with negative consequences for land values in the existing CBD”.
De Wet Steyn also said the development would benefit the environment by sorting out storm water issues and filtering out any litter that usually ends up in the Duck Pond, and he intends to enhance the tidal flow between the Kowie River and the Duck Pond by clearing a partially blocked culvert.
As commendable as this sounds – and this is something the municipality should take care of anyway – it is highly debatable whether this is a fair trade-off for losing one of Port Alfred green spaces.
De Wet Steyn would need to raise the level of the land by several metres to make viable foundations and overcome the problems posed by the site being "substantially below the 50 year flood level”, in his own words.
One of the areas he proposes taking sand from as filling material is the sand bank next to Little Beach, the added benefit being it would help river navigation. Of course it would also kill two birds with one stone as this sand bank was meant to have been tackled by the marina dredging operation long ago.
But the greatest audacity of De Wet Steyn's proposal is that his purchase offer of R3,5-million is not what the municipality would get, as he said he would deduct the cost of an environmental impact assessment (EIA) and raising the level of the land.
According to Ward 10, the municipality would end up with less than R1-million for a prime piece of real estate.
We agree with committee members that a full EIA needs to be done, with full public participation, before this proposal is even considered.
- Jon Houzet
