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EIA Application for The Proposed Subdivision of Portion 805 (Of 8) Of The Farm Upper End Of Langefontein, No.980, Waterfall, eThekwini Municipality, Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa (Hereafter “The Farm”) To Enable The Rezoning Of One Of The Subdivisions To Develop The Queensgate Residential Estate, For The Remainder To Remain Zoned Light Industrial, And To Enable The DMOSS Area To Be Consolidated With Portion 804 Of The Farm To The South Of Portion 805.
Khweza Environmental Consulting has been appointed by Queensgate Estate Proprietary Limited to conduct an Environmental Impact Assessment (Basic Assessment) for the proposed development.
PURPOSE OF THIS DOCUMENT
The proposed land use application will consist of the relevant subdivisions and consolidations as referred to above, and a rezoning of one of the bulk subdivisions, so as to develop a mixed housing typology estate, of approximately 260 units, including community services. A further bulk subdivision to allow for a small retail/commercial section, and for both developments, the necessary internal roadways, access and egress points, as well as the bulk and internal electrical connections, water, sewer and stormwater connections and infrastructure. This document aims to provide you, as an Interested and/or Affected Party (I&AP), with information regarding the EIA application process being undertaken for the above-mentioned project.
Any person, company, authority, or other entity that might be directly or indirectly affected by the proposed activity is invited to register as an I&AP. This includes, but is not limited to landowners, tenants, municipal and provincial authorities, interest groups, Non-Government Organisations, and conservation groups
The farm is situated in Waterfall near Hillcrest, approximately 35km to the west of Durban and falls within the jurisdiction of the eThekwini Municipality, Kwa Zulu Natal with GPS coordinates 29° 45′ 09.9″S and 30° 46′ 48.4″E. (Refer to Appendix A: Project Locality Map)
LOCATION
The farm is situated on Portion 805 (of 8) of the Farm Upper End of Langefontein No.980, eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality with the street address as 2 Ngwele Road, Waterfall. The farm is a vacant piece of land however had been used for agricultural use many years ago. The farm is zoned part Light Industrial 2 and part Residential Housing 1 with only the residential area to be rezoned to PUD5. The DMOSS area is to be consolidated with Portion 804 to the south of the farm.
FARM DESCRIPTION
The topography of the farm is fairly flat towards with the centre however contains a scarp/cliff towards the south east which leads to a valley bottom wetland. The typical land use in the area consists primarily of agriculture and urban residential with pockets of informal settlements and light industrial developments. The transport infrastructure includes Ngwele Road, the M33/Inanda Road, the R103 arterial road and the N3.
The development footprint consists of the majority of alien & invasive species with a mix of a few indigenous and protected species. The remaining sections which fall out of the development footprint are zoned under the Durban Metropolitan Open Space System and has been registered as a Conservation Servitude. This area under DMOSS is further demarcated as a Critically Biodiverse Area with an Eastern Scarp Forest, a secondary grassland containing KZN Sandstone Sourveld as well as a wetland to the south east. A number of HGM units and drainage channels were identified within 500m of the farm however there are no plans for them to be affected or developed.
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
The proposed land use application and EIA application will consist of the relevant subdivisions and consolidations as referred to above, and a rezoning of one of the bulk subdivisions, so as to develop a mixed housing typology estate, of approximately 260 units, including community services, and a further bulk subdivision to allow for a small retail/commercial section, and for both developments, the necessary internal roadways, and access and egress points, as well as the bulk and internal electrical connections, water and sewer and stormwater connections and infrastructure. The farm is approximately a total of 12, 7463 ha.
BASIC ASSESSMENT REPORT
The Basic Assessment Report in this EIA Application will identify potential environmental impacts of the development and propose mitigation measures to ensure best environmental practice. In terms of the National Environmental Management Act (No. 107 of 1998) (NEMA) and associated EIA Regulations, 2014 (as amended) there are a number of listed activities which may not commence without environmental authorisation from the competent authority.
The listed activities potentially triggered by the development are:
Activity 27 of Listing Notice 1, even though the farm is infested with aliens, the clearance of indigenous vegetation of more than 1 hectare may occur during earthworks.
Activity 28 of Listing Notice 1, as the proposed development is a residential development with a retail/commercial portion on land that was used for agriculture and is within an urban area.
Activity 12 of Listing Notice 3, even though the farm is infested with aliens, the clearance of indigenous vegetation of more than 300m2 within the portion of land that may fall under CBA, could occur during earthworks.
The development is within 500m of a watercourse and so may trigger a Water Use License Application (WULA) or a General Authorisation for two water use activities as identified in Section 21 of the NWA:
- Section 21 (c) – impeding or diverting the flow of water in a watercourse; and
- Section 21 (i) – altering the bed, banks, course or characteristics of a watercourse.
The required approvals will be obtained from the relevant Department.
As part of this application potential environmental impacts will be assessed and the following specialist studies were identified to be conducted:
| Specialist Study | Specialist |
| Ecological Assessment | Aeon Nexus |
| Heritage Assessment | eThembeni Cultural Heritage Management |
| Traffic Impact Assessment | NSA Consulting Engineers |
| Geotechnical Assessment | Davis Lynn and Partners. |
REGISTER & COMMENT AS AN I&AP
If you consider yourself an I&AP for this EIA application and development, we encourage you to make use of the opportunities created by the Public Participation Process to become involved and raise any issues or concerns which affect and/or interest you.
By completing and submitting the accompanying registration form, we will ensure that you are registered as an I&AP for the project, and that your concerns or queries regarding the project will be noted. We will also ensure that you are provided with future information pertaining to the project as well as the availability of Environmental Impact Report for review and comment purposes. Please direct all comments, queries or issues as per details below.
CONTACT DETAILS
Name: Mr. Nazeer Jamal
Position: Environment Assessment Practitioner
Email: info@khweza.net
Telephone: 076 151 3334