Anger over Pretoria student flats plan

Residents fear that the proposed multi-billion rand housing development in Brooklyn will negatively affect historic houses.

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Pretoria - Houses – some built as far back as the end of the Anglo Boer War in 1902 – will be negatively affected by the proposed multi-billion rand housing development in Brooklyn, east of the city.

Residents of the area have vowed that the development – expected to result in at least 2 000 student accommodation units – would never see the light of day and said they would approach the courts to stop it.

Their concerns were sparked by an application to rezone 24 properties covering 3.5 hectares of land to build eight-storey buildings.

The process is still in the initial phase where a rezoning application has to be submitted to the municipality, but the proposals have been made available to the residents.

If the development goes ahead, existing residential properties bordered by Lynnwood Road and Brooks Street, as well as Jan Shoba (Duncan) and Hay streets will have to be bought off.

Town planner Jacques van der Merwe said the cost of the development could be in the region of R3 billion. The proposed development was intended to accommodate students from the University of Pretoria, he said.

But Geert de Vries, secretary of the Brooklyn and Eastern Areas Citizens Association, said the developers’ proposal showed more than 2 000 units and would see properties that would normally accommodate four units being redeveloped into high-rise structures.

Residents considered this a crisis, he said, as a high-rise with 90 units or more would be unacceptable. “We don’t want to destroy Brooklyn by allowing student accommodation which is being provided elsewhere across the city,” said De Vries.

Residents also feel the university has its own tracts of land that could be developed for student accommodation, and the developers should rather eye these instead of a sensitive, predominantly residential area.

Proposals had been made by different developers, he said, the first application being in 2013 and the latest – and fifth – a few months ago.

Complaints by residents stemmed from the fact that lofty blocks of flats would overshadow lots of historical buildings, and almost 30 residential houses that were 60 years old, he said. Also, the MacIntosh building and Greek Orthodox Church in Lynnwood Road were likely to be dwarfed by the buildings.

Local councillor Kate Prinsloo said the skyscrapers would also dwarf the old jacaranda trees, which were protected by heritage legislation. “We are proud of Brooklyn and developers won’t come to destroy this area,” she said.

Residents had already instructed their attorney to draw up legal papers, she said, but they were keeping their fingers crossed that the developers would co-operate. Prinsloo said residents already had parking problems and the planned project would make things worse. Residents demand sustainable development in the area, a healthy environment and better parking and traffic management.

Resident Danie van der Merwe said the suburb was one of the oldest and finest in the city. At the turn of the 20th century, he said, Brooklyn consisted of agricultural holdings, and examples of farm houses built at that time still existed.

Van der Merwe is worried that Brooklyn had recently been invaded by developers applying for rezoning of single residential properties to multi-level, high density rights.

The community was not against densification of the area, he said. “We accept that we should have a compact city to be sustainable. We would accept a six multi-storey on Lynnwood Road, not an eight-storey building. From the city’s economic point of view, we should decide how to use land effectively.”

He said the association planned to meet the developers. “We will also meet municipal town planners,” he said. Regarding the development, he said, it should cater for the wider needs of the community and not just for students. Residents aired their objections against the development and engaged with the university, the major role player, he said.

rapula.moatshe@inl.co.za

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