Northpine CID in the works

Natalie Khambi, a member of the steering committee.

The committee championing a special rating area (SRA) for Northpine is confident residents will give the plan the green light.

Lindsay Schereka, committee chairman, said about 100 residents had vebally backed the idea at a meeting at Northpine Primary School’s main hall last month.

The 19-member steering committee believes it is close to sealing a deal with the City to set up an SRA, also known as a city improvement district (CID).

An SRA is a non-profit company in a defined area where property owners agree to pay extra rates for top-up services, such as cleaning and law enforcement.

The committee needs 60 percent of residents to back the proposal before it can submit a business plan, which is available at www.northpinecid.co.za, to the City for its approval.

Mr Schereka, an estate agent, is behind the SRA proposal for Northpine. It would operate on Old Paarl Road, Dennesig Close, Kroonden Road, Stockside Road, Baraco Crescent, Almeria Road, Bloukrans Avenue and Wolvefontein Road.

The SRA levy would depend on a property’s value. A homeowner would pay an extra R56.19 a month for a R500 000 property, while one with a R1m property would shell out an extra R113,58, according to Mr Schereka’s business plan.

Natale Khambi, a member of the steering committee, said the SRA would work with the CPF, neighbourhood watches and street committees. Those who were already members of ratepayers’ associations would not have to pay the SRA levy. Resident Alexander Arendse said the City did not de-weed a vast swathe of Northpine’s grass patches.

Would the SRA do that, he asked. Mr Schereka said de-weeding was the council’s responsibility, but the SRA would help to make sure it did it and hold it accountable in other areas too.

Mr Schereka said the steering committee had approached the City last month to outline the plan for the SRA. “We asked the City how it worked, and they advised us on how to get residents to buy into the idea,” he said.

He had decided to push for an SRA in Northpine after seeing how well it worked in Brackenfell and Vredekloof.

“Out of the analysis and research we have conducted, the community is excited about it, and 80 percent have given us a positive response,” Mr Schereka said.

He based that figure on interactions the committee had had with residents.

The committee, he said, now sought formal consent from residents. That needs to be done before the end of September, according to a City by-law. If it misses the deadline, it will have to start the whole process from scratch.

Kraaifontein Community Policing Forum (CPF) backs the proposal, according to its spokesman, Giovanni Pasquallie, a Northpine resident .

He said the SRA’s crime-fighting element would support police efforts.

Deputy mayor Ian Neilson said two City officials had been at last month’s meeting as observers, helping to clear up technical issues where needed. The City had been impressed by the attendance.

“The steering committee must gather the required support to enable them to lodge an application,” he said, noting that SRA’s did not “make money for the City” as each was unique; had its own business plan and did not need extra City funding.