Chairman’s Report to the Annual General Meeting of the Misty Cliffs Village Association for the period 1st March 2008/9, to be held on Sunday 3rd May 2009 in the Scarborough Community Hall at 10 am.
As always your Executive Committee has been active during the year and has held six meetings. Formal minutes of all meetings were kept and are available for inspection by the authorities. All monies received and extended were meticulously accounted for and the Association’s financial affairs are in good order.
Membership
During the past year 47 (77%) out of 61 owners paid their annual subscriptions. The balance of 14 (23%) of owners failed to pay in spite of being contacted through the News Letter, personal emails, faxes and continual reminders in all our communications. This is disappointing, being a reduction of nine (16%) fewer payments than last year when 56 (92%) owners paid.
Every owner is automatically a member of the Village Association. The annual membership fee income of R300 per owner helps to protect Misty’s unique “sense of place”, makes it a desirable area in which to live, and safeguards every owner’s property investment.
Sub’s raise on average about R14 000 a year, most of which (R9 000) is spent on environmental maintenance and improvement, with the balance being spent on owner communication and community interaction.
To those owners who have not as yet contributed, come on, don't be “free riders&rdquo, become a real part of the community with your payment.
Treasury
Audited accounts will be distributed at the AGM. Our financial position is sound with a surplus of R21 842 for the year under review. Total funds, including a contingency reserve and special purpose funds, but excluding refundable building deposits, stand at R141 998.
Income is generated from subscriptions, building scrutiny fees, interest and donations. The community has donated generously to special projects which are accounted for inde-pendently in the financial statements. Your committee applied for and was awarded a grant of R10 000 from the Unicity to replace the wooden steps on the southern end of Upper Old Camp Road that were destroyed by the fire last year. A quotation has been accepted and the steps will be replaced shortly.
Costs have been well contained, and this has allowed us to generate additional interest towards partly financing the purchase of fire-fighting equipment.
The Executive Committee has implemented a budget for the coming year which is attached to the Annual Financial Statements and reflects a break-even situation. The budget includes partial funding for the acquisition of fire-fighting equipment, provisionally estimated at R20 000, and also an increase in the subscription.
Subscriptions were last increased to the present R300 on the 3rd April 2005, and the Executive Committee felt that with the purchase of fire-fighting equipment, and after holding subscriptions at the same level for five years, it was time to increase subscriptions, in terms of Item 6.1 of the Constitution, from R300 to R335 pa, an increase of 12%.
The Association’s registration during 2007 as both a Non-Profit and Public Benefit Organisation continues to afford us a tax-free status. Your Executive Committee has implemented a Contingency Reserve Fund of R60 000 for emergencies or special requirements only.
Tony Turner’s guiding hand on our finances and his informed counsel are of great value as can be seen from the meticulously prepared accounts.
Fire
As a consequence of the 2008 fire we have created a specific portfolio on our Executive Committee to manage fire prevention. Owner Cal Bruns was co-opted onto the committee to head the portfolio early this year and will act as the fire co-ordinator in the event of a fire.
There has been lots of action since the last AGM, including:
Much has been done and we need to concentrate on completing our strategies before the next fire season, so we are very pleased to have Cal Bruns on board to ensure that our plans reach fruition.
Environmental Monitoring
The ongoing position of Environmental Officer continues to work well for our community. Greg Shaw, the present incumbent on your committee, continues to do exceptional work, and as you can see for yourselves the village is neat, spick and span, and free of all alien vegetation.
Owners are not always enamoured of Greg’s insistence on removing the alien flora on their properties, but that’s his function - to help ensure that we remain a real conservation village.
The village is continually cleared of all alien infestation, dumped and abandoned building rubble, and garden refuse. Builders are constantly monitored to ensure that they practise good housekeeping, and wherever they may not, remedial action is insisted upon.
In addition, waste paper and other debris are cleared from storm water channels and drains every month.
Greg has also developed an excellent set of Environmental Guidelines for owners at Misty which we will attach to our Building Guidelines and send separately to owners to ensure that we entrench our conservation ethos, behaviour and status.
Environmental Rehabilitation
Rehabilitation continues at a pace through the implementation of the Environmental Preservation Study of Misty Cliffs presented to you at the previous AGM by the group of Btec students. The project has been well supported and sufficient money was raised to fully implement the recommendations. The first phase of plantings was completed last winter and the second and final phase will commence shortly.
This is a major project which we are sure will enhance the value of our properties and make the area truly a conservation village, this having always been your association’s aim. Any money invested in this way will only enhance the property values and improve the “sense of place” in which we live and own property.
Owl Project
In keeping with our mandate as a conservation village this scheme caught the imagination of many owners who then contributed generously to the project. It has run for just short of two years and has met with very real success. A total of 21 owls were set free, three barn owls and 18 spotted eagle owls.
However, Cape Nature has suspended the project until such time as it has been able to establish if the releases have increased the general population of owls, and if the area is able to support more owls, as well as the possible related effects on other species such as peregrines. Subject to the outcome of the survey, we hope they’ll be ready to have the project recommence in 2010. A genet and an Egyptian goose have meanwhile taken up residence in two of the owl boxes, and Greg anticipates that other birds and animals will make use of the boxes in Spring this year.
There is a balance in the fund of R15 550 and Greg has another conservation project he wishes to put to owners. Once he has finalised his proposal we will let you have details so that you can decide if you are comfortable to support the new project by channelling the balance of your donation into this alternative project at Misty or, if not, have a pro-rata refund of your contribution.
Greg is an exceptionally energetic member of our committee who is passionate about Misty Cliffs and we have him to thank for all our conservation initiatives and for providing us with a pristine environment in which to live. Well done and many thanks Greg.
Security
An in-depth analysis of security provision for our residents was carried out during 2008. Various strategies were considered and costed in detail, from providing our own DIY security to requesting Scarborough Security Services to come up with new ideas and costs. We also obtained alternative ideas and costs from competitor security companies.
This was done with the objective of ensuring a visible and proactive service, the options to include dedicated guarding with random foot patrols, dedicated radio car, provision and management of our own service, and combining the guarding with baboon monitoring, fire control and miscellaneous services such as medical help.
After this extensive investigation it was established that Scarborough Security Services was in line cost-wise, and their response times were markedly superior to those of competing services.
The DIY option was carefully considered but its managerial challenge was daunting and its cost would have required certainty of sufficient owner participation. It was therefore decided that because the level of crime was still relatively low this option should be deferred but regularly reviewed.
We would record the untimely passing away of Richard Foster, the founder of Scarborough Security Services, who served our community well, and we are pleased that his wife, Sylvia, is continuing with the business. Mike Bekker has made direct contact with your Association and will in future attend our meetings and provide us with a report on criminal and other security-related matters at Misty, and these we will pass on to you through the News Letter.
Baboons
It seems that hardly a day goes by without the antics of baboons being featured in the news media. They continue to be a major problem and are holding owners and residents throughout the Peninsula captive in their own homes. It is sad, but the baboons have been corrupted by inappropriate or illegal behaviour by members of the public and therefore no longer have any fear of humans; this has made them become daring and more aggressive.
The three authorities City of Cape Town, Cape Nature, and Table Mountain National Parks seem unable to get their act together to decide who is responsible for the management of the baboons in the Peninsula, and each is reluctant to provide funding for the strategies developed by the Baboon Management Team (BMT), each looking to the others to contribute. Current funding is spasmodic and insufficient to implement the documented BMT strategies.
Baboon Matters (BM) is appointed by the BMT to provide monitors for the troop in our area and they did a super job over the Christmas holidays; residents were delighted to be baboon-free over this period, mainly because of excellent management of the monitors by an employee of BM, who regrettably has since resigned.
To date the BMT has been ineffectual in getting the authorities to take responsibility. Nothing is going to change until this impasse is resolved. In an effort to achieve this we now have a representative on the BMT who is taking an active role in trying to solve the problem at the most senior levels within the three authorities. Matters should reach a head within the next two months and we are cautiously optimistic of achieving an improved position. Subject to the outcome of these negotiations we will have to make a call on future strategy at Misty in the second half of this year.
In the interim your committee continues to inform residents via our SMS system whenever baboons are in the village, and we endeavour to ensure the level of service from the monitors through BM meets the required standard.
Thank you to those owners who contributed to our appeal for funding and we can assure you that it will not be spent unless we receive the required level of service from BM.
Jacqui Parsonson has taken on this often emotive portfolio and of making sure that BM performs to the required standard.
Building and plans approval
Only one building plan was approved during the year but advice and assistance on building regulations were provided to many owners and their architects and builders. In addition, Misty building is in generally active mode with simultaneous developments on five sites as well as the demolition and redevelopment of a new home to commence later this year.
Regular inspection by the Environmental Control Officer of all building developments is performed and has enabled us to take prompt action to ensure that good housekeeping is practised by builders to prevent and/or repair damage to the roads and the environment. As soon as damage is spotted owners are informed of their liability so that repairs are made at the end of the construction period and paid for from the respective roads deposits.
Your association submitted a formal objection to the development of Erf 974/1 on the seaward side of the M65 main road because the envisaged property would in our view seriously detract from the scenic value of the route in our area. We await the outcome of our objection.
My thanks to David Paterson, Robin Frew and our consulting architect Gerrie van Tonder for the work done in this important area.
Registration as a Conservation Village and other legislative and related matters
We are no nearer to being formally registered as a “Conservation Village” than we were last year. The advent of the consolidation of building regulations throughout the Peninsula via the proposed Integrated Zoning Scheme (IZS) continues to keep our application on hold. The latest draft of the IZS does not at this point include the opportunity to register an “Overlay Zone” on the standard building conditions so that our local building regulations could be included for our area and be entrenched in law. We are lobbying with the Unicity through the Greater Cape Town Civic Alliance (GCTCA) in an endeavour to allow Overlay Zones to be approved. This seems to be our only hope of having our Conservation Village concept entrenched in law. It would ensure that the negative aspects of the IZS proposals (such as four-storeyed buildings) would not affect Misty Cliffs.
The so called “final draft” of the IZS, now newly named the Cape Town Zoning Scheme (CTZS) has just been released and will be discussed on the 9th May by all the ratepayer associations in the Far South through the Far South Peninsula Community Forum (FSPCF) as well as most of the other ratepayer associations in the peninsula through the (GCTCA). Your association will be present to ensure that Overlay Zones are incorporated in some form.
In the interim, most owners are adhering to the Local Building Regulations which we agreed with the South Peninsula Administration.
The ability through our membership of the FSPCF and GCTCA to tap into expert/specialist advice with regard to municipal matters and thereby alleviate the pressure of work on your committee has worked greatly to our benefit. It has provided your association with qualified and/or professional knowledge on many subjects that needed research and comment, thereby giving us much greater clout with the authorities.
As a result we were able to take part and comment, through the FSCF and/or GCTCA, to the Unicity in respect of the Integrated Zoning System, Overlay Zones, Spatial Plan, Strategic Environmental Assessment and Integrated Development Plan for the Far South, all of which have greater or lesser effects on Misty Cliffs.
Leon Morris handles a portfolio covering a multitude of sins for which we thank him for his commitment and diligence.
Website
After an initial increase of 50% in hits on our website in July last year there has been no growth. It does however perform the function of providing information to those who use it and cuts down on the number of calls to committee members for basic information on Misty. The opportunity for owners free of charge to advertise properties for rent has not been taken up.
We are in discussions with Pam Golding for a lead sponsorship which we hope to finalise this year.
Greater use needs to be made of providing information on the processes to follow for owners wanting to develop their properties and the development of a “recommended service suppliers list” for the benefit of owners and residents.
The incoming committee will need to address this position and decide on how to develop the site further.
Member communication
Tim Anderson’s news letters have become something of an institution and their distribution after our bimonthly executive committee meetings helps to keep Misty members in touch with what’s going on, a service valued by the community and eagerly awaited.
Well done again to Tim, our hard working scribe, who has taken a huge load off me with his accurate and efficient record keeping and informed communication to members.
We also introduced our new SMS communication system this year through Jacqui Parsonson and it has been a great success in warning members of imminent baboon raids, reminders about events, and will be of immense value in the event of fires. This system has proved a cost-effective way of communicating with members.
Community
Our community interaction through the fourth end-of-year party last December was another great success. We will let you know this year’s party date early again in the hope of catching the out-of-town owners, most of whom arrive mid-December for their Christmas holidays. Thanks again to Tim and Jacqui Parsonson for providing their home and Jacqui and her team for another super function.
Executive committee
The owners at Misty Cliffs are fortunate to have a group of people prepared to put in their personal time to manage the many areas requiring attention. My thanks to my committee of Tim Anderson, Greg Shaw, Jacqui Parsonson, Leon Morris, David Paterson, Robin Frew and co-opted new member Cal Bruns for their work and dedication.
David Paterson has decided not to stand for the committee next year and I thank him for his contribution. Robin Frew is taking a sabbatical for a while but is prepared if required to continue developing the website and handling of ad hoc specialist projects outside of the formal committee.
Thanks are also due to Gerrie van Tonder, our architectural advisor, for his advice, and also to Graham Noble of Scarborough for his informed support of the Misty Cliffs community and his sound advice on municipal affairs.
We require two additional committee members to spread the load and bring fresh ideas. It would be refreshing to receive volunteers from the community.
Conclusion
After nine years on the committee and the last four years in the chair I will be standing down as the chairman and your committee will be electing a new chairman for the coming year. I am available to remain on the committee for a further year to provide continuity at the behest of the new committee.
I have enjoyed my participation on the committee. The great majority of owners are very co-operative and are a pleasure to serve. I have had fun working with a great group of committed people who have given unstintingly of their personal time over the years to protect the value of our members’ investments and enhanced Misty’s wonderful “sense of place”.
Doug Tunbridge
Chairman