Menlyn casino plan draws fire

Artist impressions of Time Square at Menlyn Maine, a R3 billion entertainment complex development

Artist impressions of Time Square at Menlyn Maine, a R3 billion entertainment complex development

Published Aug 28, 2013

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A number of parties affected by the planned casino development called Time Square at Menlyn Maine are set to take legal action against the City of Tshwane.

In the next three weeks, Motla Conradie Incorporated, acting on behalf of residents, churches and other institutions in the area, will go to the Pretoria High Court to ask for an order to review the metro council’s approval of the rezoning of the land which makes the development possible.

The firm initially wanted to lodge an urgent application but decided to rather wait its turn on the normal court roll.

Teresa Conradie, of law firm Motla Conradie, situated opposite the area designated for the development, said the application would not be against the developers or Sun International, but against the City of Tshwane, which had approved rezoning of the land in a way that could be seen as “underhanded”.

She said residents and interested parties had not objected to the land being rezoned because they had not realised a casino was part of the plan.

 

“The obligation lies with local authorities to properly inform people. They underplayed the possibility of a casino by calling it a place of amusement,” Conradie said.

The City of Tshwane had said earlier that “place of amusement” could encompass a casino.

In the next week, the firm will meet affected parties who operate or live within a 1.5km radius of the proposed Time Square which will be on the corner of Corobay and Aramist streets, north of Glen High School.

There are eight schools, eight churches and four old-age homes within the designated radius, and Conradie said they would meet all the parties next week to discuss which of them was keen to be part of the proceedings.

Motla Conradie would then draw up the application and take it to the high court.

Sun International wants to have its casino licence transferred from the Morula Casino north of the city to Menlyn Maine in the R3 billion entertainment complex development. The casino will have 3 000 slot machines and 100 gaming tables – making it bigger than the casinos at Montecasino and Emperors Palace.

If the licence is granted, the development could be completed within three years.

The Pretoria News reported last month that a group of 22 residents’ associations and interest groups, known collectively as the Joint Action Group (Jag), had expressed dissatisfaction with the City of Tshwane about the “underhanded” way in which it had dealt with the Menlyn Node Spatial Development Framework of 2012 and developments in the Menlyn area.

Jag took the issue to the public protector late last year.

Conradie said the Gauteng Gambling Board had received numerous objections against the application to have the gambling licence transferred. The closing date for objections to the application was August 16, and the board confirmed it had received many objections.

“It seems unlikely that so many people would object to the gambling board, but no one objected to the rezoning,” she said. - Pretoria News

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