WE, THE undersigned residents of Hofmeyr Street in Gardens (Cape Town Central), wish to express our discontent at the sudden and hitherto undisclosed construction of an open-air tapas bar in our neighbourhood – right on top of certain heritage homes we thought would be protected by council.
Though plans have not yet been approved, this monolithic structure, ranging from boundary wall to boundary wall in the backyard of 145 Kloof Street, stands 4m tall directly behind our homes, looming above our properties.
This means that, unless we make radical and expensive renovations, those who will frequent this bar will have unobstructed views into our windows and yards.
To add to our distress, we now anxiously anticipate the coming and going of rooftop revellers and accompanying noise and music at all hours. Basically, if this is to be allowed, the back part of our homes, whether bedrooms or not, will slowly become uninhabitable, as no human being can sleep or go about their daily business if a restaurant-cum-bar is going full blast in their backyard.
It’s not the right ambiance in which to raise children either. This is particularly acute in the case of the four abutting neighbours whose homes are within 2m and 5m from the proposed outdoor venue.
Despite its invasive nature, we found that not a single homeowner had been informed or consulted beforehand, even though the noise pollution from this venue will, in the long run, cause us to vacate our homes, room by room, in order to find peace and quiet.
Our question is: Why is this kind of ruthless development allowed in the first place when it is going to cause council and the police endless hassles for a year or two before the bar is eventually closed down by public demand?
To us it seems like a huge waste of city resources – and that for a nightly annoyance that no self-respecting neighbourhood would want to put up with.
We have previously found council to be very strict in applying heritage regulations in our area, known for its well-preserved Victorian architecture.
We’ve had to be careful about what we do to the exteriors of our homes to preserve this character, or they would react sternly, quoting the by-laws for heritage zoning.
Naturally, we’ve always assumed that the same strict heritage regulations would apply to new developments as well, yet in this case extreme exceptions were allowed.
We can see this will set a dreadful precedent in that other developers will want to do the same here and elsewhere, if they are not kept in check.
Before we know it, we’ll be living in a plethora of open-air restaurants right behind and virtually on top of us, which is hardly what we planned when we invested in decent homes in the City Bowl.
With this letter, we urge council to carefully consider the plans before them and to do right by us as local residents, rather than to give way to developers and a number of foreigners’ wishes, as seems to be happening here.
When Cape Town is no longer beautiful and developments have ceased, those who tackle the town as though it’s just a toy, will move to better destinations, while we will be sitting with that legacy of total insensitivity and greed.
l Written on behalf of concerned residents in Hofmeyr, Welgemeend and Stephen streets:
Brenda Klingenberg, Dr Simone Silver, Hennie Groenendyk, Steve Richmond, Kimberley Richmond, Maggie Mouton, Dr Veronique Eeckhout, Remi Eeckhout, Juliana Levine, Mike Rahfaldt , John Rennie, Tamara Rennie, Marike Bekker, Koos Bekker, Karen Roos, Marike Norton, Amy Ebedes-Murray, Luke Murray, Hans Vugt, Tabitha Guy, Philippe Brawermann, Dorothy McDowell, Daniel Joubert, K Schulze, Heiko Schulze , Nane von Haeme, Roland Jungwirth, Stephen Hall, Coletta Canale, Mr and Mrs André Frank
Jan van Riebeeck High School.