A Table View crèche’s bid to double the number of children it takes, will cause traffic and parking problems and be unhealthy for the children, say those opposed to the plan.
The application was submitted to the City of Cape Town by Elco Property Developments on behalf of Tableview Treasures Educare, at 35 Circle Road, Table View. The crèche wants to double the number of children permitted to attend, from 55 to 110.
Greater Table View Action Forum (GTAF) chairwoman Karen Davis said the area already endured a “traffic nightmare”.
“Now there will be double the amount of parents dropping their kids off. There is already another school on that road. Our concern is the traffic congestion and over-populating a space with children which cannot be healthy for them,” she said.
Along with the extra children, the application calls for six drop-and-go bays on the plot next to the school.
Claudette Smit lives in Circle Road and is against this proposal. The crèche was already using city land for a drop and go, she said.
“The area has been brick paved and a sign has been attached to a tree which is on this plot. The sign displays a notification that the area is for parking for Tableview Treasures Educare only and there will be a R500 clamping fee applicable.
“As to 110 children, the erf is almost built to capacity. No grassed area (natural or fake) that I can see,” she said in an email to Tabletalk.
She said there were no green areas for the children to “let off steam” and called the application to double the number of pupils “commercially motivated”. Some residents took to the GTAF Facebook to voice their opinions.
Table View resident Henk Hugo said he was fed up with the “piecemeal densification” of a residential area. “There is zero planning going into the decisions.”
Brendan Shaw said increasing the number of children at the crèche would cause parking and traffic problems and also threaten the children’s safety.
“The uncontrolled densification of the area is already putting a strain on existing infrastructure which eventually can, in fact, hamper safety,” he said.
Eldred Smith, director of Elco Property Developments, said the public should direct any concerns to the City.
Concerns about traffic and health would be taken into consideration, he said.
“There are certain requirements like health aspects that we have to adhere to. And we will deliver on such,” he said.
Ms Smit noted that the crèche was just across the road from the field where the Flandorp development of some 100 flats and 14 duplexes was planned (“Uproar about land development,” Tabletalk March 11, 2015).
“There is future high-density on North Road. One house already demolished, a four-storey earmarked at the corner of Millin and North roads. Three more blocks earmarked towards Wood Drive, another three houses awaiting demolition at the intersection of North Road and Park Avenue. Do the maths on the exponential increase in cars and bodies. Insanity reigns,” she said.
Ward 113 councillor Joy McCarthy said she would be objecting to the application because she felt the crèche needed larger premises for more children.
“With all the developments in that area, the traffic will not be pleasant because that is a very busy road. Also, the drop-and-go area they are talking about is a public open space that has a pathway leading to another street. I also feel for the neighbours because of the number of children there will be,” she said.
Mr Smith said their application would not require any extensions to the existing building and there would be enough space for all the children. Tabletalk phoned the crèche on Monday morning and spoke to a woman who declined to give us creche owner Vincent Smith’s cellphone number but invited us to email questions. After getting no response to our email, we phoned back on Tuesday morning.
Again the woman said she couldn’t give out the owner’s phone number and told us to wait for his response to our email. But it did not come by the time this edition went to print.
The closing date for comments and objections is Thursday March 5. People can email their comments or objections to comments_objections.blaauwberg@capetown.go.za or submit them in writing to the District Manager’s office at 87 Pienaar Road, Milnerton.
