Below a short :-) summary of the meeting held this Thursday evening regarding the future of Majik. Objective of the meeting: The meeting was chaired by Andrea Crous and the objective was to communicate the process leading to the proposed changes to the status of the area. This status change will see a legal entity (currently the Valley committee) given “ownership” or custodianship to manage and control access to the area. Representation: There were representatives from the Valley committee, various city officials (including Property and Parks), the Tygerberg MTB club, New Balance Multisport Club, Durbanville Athletics Club, as well as various interested residents and recreational users of Majik. (Residents of the surrounding suburbs of course – the forest residents were not represented :-) Match report: As expected, the meeting was highly charged, and although the chair requested that we focus on the road ahead, the discussion continued to drift back into the history, the previous promises, expectations, mistakes, differences of opinion etc. The voice of the runners and general public came though strongly to make the point that it is not only the mountain bikers who have grievances. Key discussion topics. The impact of the gate closures: Many people feel that the restricted access has an unintended consequence of making the area less safe because of reduces numbers of people in the forest. Access via the northern gate: The runners and bikers made it clear that they wanted a speedy resolution to their most important issue – the locked gate at the northern boundary. They feel this is too restrictive and affects a well-established usage pattern that existed for years. Alternative fencing: The option of a shortcut fence that will allow controlled access to the forest only, and not the area above it, was discussed. While some people consider it a workable solution, Andrea indicated that the resident prefer that the public land above their properties have restricted access control. Implications of the Valley committee having the rights to control access. Questions were asked regarding the extent of the rights that will be given to the Valley committee. There were worries that they might be allowed to unilaterally change the rules in future to limit access. After many emotional exchanges, all seemed to acknowledge two important points: 1 – All parties support the objective to improve the safety situation. 2 – All parties agree we need to find a solution that will not reduce the (acceptable and legal) usage of the area. The representative of the property portfolio of the city then explained the legal process to achieve the status change. This lead to the following realisations: 1 – The future process will most likely be legal, proper and fair. The process will include a public participation phase, and the rights and duties of the Valley committee will be contained in a legal agreement. This agreement will be open to discussion and comment. This went a long way to settle many fears of the users that their interests will be ignored. 2 – It might take many months before the process is complete. This lead to a valley committee member making a very important statement that we need to find an interim solution to the locked gates at the northern side of the forest. A proposal was then made by the Mountain bike club to use combination locks whose codes can be communicated to a controlled group of people. The meeting concluded with the following decisions and commitments: 1 – The proposal to use combination locks will be presented to the sub-council ASAP. 2 – A meeting will be called in January to discuss the content of the legal document that will defined the mandate, rights and duties of the Valley committee.
Posted on: Sat, 06 Dec 2014 09:53:05 +0000
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