The plans for the new Mall, which have been submitted to the City of Cape Town for discussion and which are presently “doing the rounds” within the various departments, were made available to the FSPCF.
A representative of NEAG attended a Special General Meeting of FSPCF in the Sub Council chambers on 10 July to review and discuss these plans which had been copied onto slides for overhead projection. The meeting was well attended by representatives from its membership. The attendance included an urban designer and a traffic consultant as specialists and also Ald Purchase and Cllr Simon Liell-Cock.
Bearing in mind the dominant position of the proposed mall at the intersection of the Ou Kaapse Weg and Noordhoek Drive scenic routes, we would like to see a development that does justice to the environment, its strategic location (especially viewed from the scenic routes) and the preferences of the broader community as represented by the FSPCF.
Specific concerns raised were:
- the Far South Peninsula is not being well served by the design submitted;
- urban design principles as per the City’s Urban Design Policy have not been respected;
- the need for more sensitive architecture in respect of the views from Ou Kaapse Weg, i.e. outward appearance and roof-scape;
- traffic flow planning, also bearing in mind the new Dassenberg development;
- access from Buller Louw Drive serving both Long Beach Mall and this Mall and the location of the Virgin Active facility;
- facilities for taxis transporting employees and clients to/from the Mall.
We also identified the possibility of incorporating other facilities on a potential second floor.
The Far South Peninsula Community Forum have requested an urgent meeting with the City Planners to discuss our concerns and proposals that we have for there consideration.
NEAG will continue to keep you informed.
