Residential areas in Johannesburg are included in the City's new draft City Improvement Districts policy which will go up for public comment soon.

A new policy has been drafted that will see the inclusion of purely residential areas as City Improvement Districts (CIDs). Previously CIDs were designed for commercial areas only.

A CID is a partnership between the City and the private sector to improve the management of the urban environment for the benefit of owners, tenants and visitors.

Districts are set up within a defined geographic area where property owners have agreed to pay for certain services that will improve their physical environment.

The new policy will be submitted to council for approval on 30 July. It will then be given to the public for comment and will be finalised in October.

The department of planning and urban management (DPUM) placed advertisements in several newspapers last year calling for members of the public to make written submissions on the establishment of CIDs in residential areas. The advertisements indicated that the public could also make verbal presentations to the City if need be.

This CID policy has been developed to address the extent of CID appeals in the City with the aim of modifying the existing Gauteng City Improvements Districts Act 12 of 1997.

“Barring any adverse comments from the Executive Mayoral Committee or council on 30 July 2009, the policy will be circulated for a comment period of 30 days to key stakeholders such as Kagiso Urban Management (KUM), and the general public,” said Kamini Pillay, DPUM director of strategic support.

Illovo’s bid to form a CID
Pillay’s comments came after KUM director Anne Steffny gave a brief report back in June on the current state of Illovo’s bid to create a residential CID.

Berea is the city's first residential CID

Steffny was speaking at the 8th annual general meeting of the Illovo Action Group (IAG) which represents residents and ratepayers.

Illovo is one of the areas of concern as it’s a mixed-use commercial and residential node, and home to prominent property owners and tenants.

The node is situated along the north-south Oxford and Rivonia Road arteria and is central to both the Sandton Central district, Rosebank and the Melrose Arch development.

IAG chairperson Wendy Machanik says the main concerns in Illovo include, among others, a proposal to build a boutique hotel on the corner of Corlett Drive and Oxford Road, an area which already has a traffic problem.

Before a CID can be legislated, it must have the support of at least 51 percent of the land and property owners in that area.

Steffny said that although Illovo has a large number of residents, it will be hard to get 51 percent because that would require the cooperation of all the land and property owners and body corporates.

She added that the general public in Johannesburg really want their residential areas to become CIDs.

“I hope that the City will apply their thinking to give the public the opportunity to be involved in the utilisation of their areas,” said Steffny.

The only existing CID in a residential area is Legae la rona in Berea. Other areas which could become CIDs include Braamfontein, lower Rosebank and the Sandton Business Improvement District, as 30 percent of the land in these areas is used for residential purposes. 

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