Cape Town - The City has officially given Newlands and Eastlake Island residents the go-ahead to form their own respective Community Improvement Districts (CIDs).
CIDs are organisations established by communities to enhance and supplement municipal services in terms of section 5(1) of the CID By-law.
The activities conducted under CIDs include public safety and protecting the natural and built environment of the area.
According to the City, the approval for the two communities to form their CIDs followed submissions by residents that outlined the necessity for CIDs in their areas.
Deputy mayor and spatial planning and environment Mayco member Eddie Andrews said that the approval demonstrated the City’s commitment to partner with communities and to empower residents to take initiatives in their development.
“Both these areas provided sufficient evidence to justify the need for their individual CID needs and conducted the requisite public meetings, business plan submissions and exceeded 60% property owner’s consent.
“We support CIDs with strong business plans and clear goals for their areas and believe that they play an important role in promoting and safeguarding the interests of residents in these districts,” said Andrews.
The Newlands CID and Eastlake Island CID services will become effective from July 1 to June 30, 2029.
Eastlake Island councillor Felicity Purchase said residents in the area of Marina Da Gama applied for the CID to form a response to better address the issues they were facing. She said throughout the process, residents participated and were looking forward to facilitating the development.
Newlands councillor Mikhail Manuel said residents were pleased and looking forward to working together with the City.
“The neighbourhood has long had a group of dedicated volunteers doing their extra bit to clean local parks, do night-time safety patrols, support homeless people, and protect the trees and environment issues,” Manuel said.
“Newlands would never be the same without the sterling work of these volunteers over the years.”
Andrews also commented that while the City could assist other communities interested in establishing their city improvement districts, CIDs were not something the City could impose on communities as the initiatives were funded by residents.
“It is important to reiterate that CIDs are established on request from the communities and that at least 60% of property owners must support the CID proposal for a residential CID and 50% + 1 for a non-residential CID.
“Thus, the City collects the additional rates and pays these over to the CIDs monthly.
“These funds are then used by the CIDs to provide the additional services listed above, as outlined in their business plans,” Andrews said.
Cape Argus