Storage containers placed at the Riverview Church of Christ in Lakeside two months ago are now ‘fully booked,’ with attempts to find alternative premises reportedly unsuccessful.
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The City of Cape Town previously issued Metric Storage, who is responsible for the containers, a compliance notice to remove the containers by 19 January because the church premises are zoned for residential use and not for storage.
Since then, the City initiated legal action in the Western Cape High Court to enforce compliance with municipal regulations. Deputy Mayor Eddie Andrews confirmed to News24 the court application, stating that the City refrains from further comment as the matter is before the court.
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Respondents in the case include Metric Storage Containers and Trailers (Pty) Ltd, Riverview Church of Christ, Trustees of the Church of Christ, Trustees of Riverview Church of Christ Trust, Bijou Makembe, and Honore Mbembo Makembe.
Dealtry Pickford, owner of Metric Storage, says the containers have remained on the premises due to failed attempts to enter into a dialogue with the City on alternative solutions.
‘The City refused to engage in dialogue with us although we tried to talk to them and arrange a meeting. I handed everything over to my attorney to deal with.’
He adds that it is disappointing that no alternative solutions could be found in the meantime.
‘If the City could provide me with alternative land, I would absolutely move, but the City has not offered any solutions and that is the problem. The City has a lot of land. They could assist not only me but the community too by solving the problem and offering an alternative location, which is why we wanted to have a dialogue.’
Pickford told the People’s Post that the community’s angry reaction to the containers saddened him. Several social media users labelled the containers as an ‘eyesore’.
‘We are saddened by the community’s reaction because we are long-standing members of the community and did everything to follow the procedure but maybe we were procedurally incorrect.’
‘The impression is that it was intentional, but that is not the case. We followed the advice of [the] people we employed. We want to maintain a good relationship with the local community and we understand their objections.’
‘We have submitted our proposal to mitigate the container site by landscaping and we have already planted 200 trees to completely obscure the containers to lessen the visual impact,’ he adds.
‘There are a lot of people making a lot of noise publicly about it but the problem is that there is a huge need for storage.’
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