A developer has proposed building a hotel and residences at Beachwood, to the dismay of residents, who say the area lies in a flood plain and they doubt the municipality’s ability to protect the area. (Anthony Grote)
The developer of the luxury R3 billion hotel and residential project on the Beachwood Golf Course, part of a green belt on the Durban North coastline, says not everyone in the community is opposed to it and its opponents are “fearmongering” about the potential environmental damage.
Gavin Strydom, director of developer Beachwood Investments, has taken umbrage with the issues residents and environmental activists have raised about the development —
to which they are strongly opposed. They say it will negatively impact the environment as it runs along 42 hectares of the environmentally sensitive D’Moss, feeding into the Beachwood Mangroves, a national monument.
D’Moss (the Durban Metropolitan Open Space System) is a system of open spaces, comprising land and water, that incorporates areas of high biodiversity value.
Angela Wilson, a representative of Friends of Beachwood which includes residents and environmental organisations and activists, said a poll of 1 700 people had indicated that 90% were “vehemently opposed to the development in its current form and wish to see the matter taken on review to the high court”.
Strydom denied this claim. “The online poll that claims to represent the view of residents was very flawed. It seemingly lacks any verification processes, such as required email addresses … to ensure reliable results. It is not representative of the community sentiment,” he countered.
Wilson said an earlier petition had recorded almost 3 000 people opposed to the development in its current form, while there had been almost 1 000 formal objections to the rezoning of the land.
These included ward 36 residents’ associations, the Fairway Residents Forum; environmental organisations such as the Wildlife and Environment Society of Southern Africa, Umgeni Estuary Conservancy, Oceans Alive Conservation Trust, Adopt-a-River, tourism operators, Virginia Airport operators, University of KwaZulu-Natal academics and local business people.
“It’s quite simple — nobody wants this development in its current form,” she said, adding that the development “serves only an elite few who might be able to buy into a high-end housing estate, a developer and his well-heeled investors who stand to make enormous profits, all at the expense of a local, and invested, community”.
eThekwini municipality approved the development in July 2023, a decision Friends of Beachwood appealed. The municipality dismissed their appeal on 21 November but the organisation is now considering taking the matter to the high court for review.
Strydom insisted that the development would not cause an environmental disaster along the green belt.
“Claims of ‘an environmental catastrophe in the making’ are incorrect and simple fearmongering. We are proud of how our plans incorporate, rehabilitate and protect the 77% of the property that will not be built on,” he said. “The developers will responsibly relocate the informal dwellers who encroach on the sensitive dune forests daily to support their livelihood.”
But Wilson said the loss of 42 hectares of D’Moss could not be obviated by the developer “keeping some green in between residential units”.
“There will be fences, pets, hardened surfaces everywhere, not to mention the … soil that has to be removed and replaced across the developable site during construction, milkwoods removed, D’Moss corridors severed. As to environmental concerns, these are too numerous to list individually,” she said.
She said mangroves in the southern section of the belt were already dying because stormwater had been introduced into the system many years ago. To build at the head of the mangroves would be even more intrusive, she added.
“The last few days’ rain is proving exactly this point at Virginia Airport where the Virginia Circle attenuation dam, built by the city to prevent flooding of the airport, breached on 13 January 2024, resulting in the flooding of the airport. Beachwood is the ‘attenuation’ area for the mangroves. Once hardened and developed, where will those floodwaters go? Into the mangroves, of course,” Wilson said.
Strydom said the development was on private property and would enhance the area.
“In activists’ arguments they talk about the site as if it is public property. The site has always been private property. Beachwood will be a responsible, forward-looking development on a privately owned piece of land offering many benefits to the surrounding area. Any legal action against it would have absolutely no basis in law,” he said.
He said the developers had engaged with the community “on a massive scope” regarding its plans “not only through registered letters, pamphlet notifications and also public meetings on environmental issues, but by following every other process required of us by law as well”.
Strydom added that phase 1 of the development would see 231 residential units being built for which detailed plans were being drawn up.
“It is our intention to develop a signature nine-hole golf course on the southern end of the property during phase 2, subject to municipal approval,” he said.
Fears regarding traffic congestion were also “misplaced” Strydom said. “Rather, the planned upgrades to access roads and intersections, as well as the planning of three separately strategically placed entrances to the new estate, will largely ease congestion in the area.”
Wilson argued that the privately owned recreational land was “protected in the title deeds by a praedial servitude — a real right — restricting its use to recreation only”.
She said development processes were “heavily biassed towards developers” and the community had not been adequately involved.
“The process to date with Beachwood Investments … has become a tick-box exercise where communities are afforded a ‘right to comment’ only. When comments are simply ignored, and development pushed through and approved by council with no deviation, consideration or adjustments made, this process cannot … be described as participatory,” Wilson said.
“No details around this aspect have been forthcoming … The EIA (environmental impact assessment) approvals were granted on the back of this environmentally sensitive area being developed to promote tourism. Should there be no tourism component, it is highly questionable whether the EIA approvals for the northern section even hold up.”
Wilson contended that, based on sewerage concerns alone, the development could not go ahead at present.
“It is an undeniable fact that the sewerage infrastructure in its current state cannot handle existing sewage, let alone additional sewage loads. Readings from 11 January 2024 taken at Northern Waste Water Treatment Works and provided by Talbot record an E. coli count of 1.9 million per 100ml. The safe range should be below 400 per 100ml,” she said.
Strydom dismissed Friends of Beachwood’s suggestions that the area’s sewerage infrastructure could not handle the new development as false, saying: “An independent study found the sewage system has the capacity but is in need of substantive maintenance by the municipality.”
Wilson said it was a comfort to know that no development could proceed until a memorandum of agreement had been established between the municipality and Beachwood Investments according to the Spatial Planning and Land Use Management Act approval, which was conditional on sewage treatment works upgrades.
She said the city and developer had not provided detailed information on the planned road upgrades. Friends of Beachwood believed approving the removal of the praedial servitude through a rezoning process was incorrect and was considering taking the matter to the high court for review.