MISTY CLIFFS VILLAGE ASSOCIATION NEWSLETTER - August 2006
Editor: Tim Anderson

Obstructions
HERE'S a reminder to anyone on the verge of starting to build a house: In addition to the refundable road/environment deposit, which is mainly intended to cover unintended damage to the road or in the road reserve, the owner must ensure that the appointed builder obtains a municipal permit for allowing rubble and/or building material on the road or road reserve. The permit costs R163 and a R1 000 deposit is required (which is why many builders ignore the requirement). Note, however, that the owner is ultimately responsible! For permits call 710-8144, Aubrey August.

The Council has recently become a lot more assertive about this matter throughout the municipal area. It applies particularly to Old Camp Road because now that the contractor's retention has been paid, the road is fully under the authority of the Council.

Obviously it's impossible to build at most of the sites without material being placed on the road reserve and/or spilling onto the road itself. However, builders should be impressed with the need to contain soft material such as sand so that it doesn't get washed away by rain and end up blocking the storm water system - as already happens too often and costs us wages for clearing. Builders should also practise good housekeeping and daily sweep up spilled stone and sand, secure empty cement bags and packaging, and have rubble removed regularly.

Please terrorize your builder into preventing his crew, including sub-contractors, from tossing their papers, strapping, bags, bottles, fag packs, empty paint tins, cleared vegetation, etc into the bush or over the gabion wall. Here, too, we have to keep paying someone to go around gathering up all this trash. Another thing: too many sub-contractors' vehicles seem to have copious oil-leaks, so those that do must be asked to park off the brick road surface.

Something nice
Not all builders need terrorizing, and it's only fair to say something happy about them when it seems deserved. We have been monitoring the reconstruction of a house at Misty and have been impressed by the contractors, Agmac Construction, who have shown rare concern for the environment and for inconvenienced neighbours. The general method of working and managing the work has impressed us. Anyone interested should contact Malcolm Grant on 082-416-0043 or (office) 797-0385 (fax: 797-5406).

Those baboon-proof bins
On the next page is a photo kindly provided by Mica Hardware in Valleyland Centre (Recreation Road, Fishhoek) of suitable baboon-proof rubbish bins. In case the picture isn't clear by e-mail: the smaller bins are priced at R196-50 and the big at R584-95. The larger type is less likely to be thrown around by frustrated animals. The smaller ones don't really cater for a family having a long weekend of partying.

Note that the popular bins with two snap-over handles are completely useless against baboons who can open them instantly just as we do. If you have one such then please fit chains or some other locking device, but make sure the device can be opened by the municipal guy who collects the trash on Tuesday mornings. Please don't put it out the night before!

The trash must be in bags/bin liners otherwise it won't be picked up. If anything prevents you putting out trash for collection, please either take it to your home base or to the depot adjoining Topstones on the main coastal road between Dido Valley and Simon's Town. If you have any problem with collection call the depot on 786-3660.

Want to let your place?
As mentioned in a previous newsletter we were surprised by the large number of hits our website was getting. This is continuing and so we are thinking it might be a good and very low-cost way of advertising houses to let or for sale or wanted. Please email or phone your thoughts on this idea. Digital photos would be no problem. If we went ahead with this the facility would be available only to paid-up members.

Speaking of letting (and lending) we appeal yet again to IMPRESS upon people who use your house that they must take their rubbish away or put it in a baboon-proof bin, duly secured. If your users mess up the place please don't let them have it again. "Mess up" includes leaving a black plastic bag of trash lying on the property or driveway or road. It's not only baboons that rip the bags open - it's also rats, genets and neighbourhood dogs.

We are considering taking photos of these incidents wherever the source is known and putting them in our newsletter hopefully to shame those responsible (including indirectly responsible!).

Who shouldn't be on this list?
It's deliciously well-known that the ambience of Misty Cliffs can induce an acute condition of short-term memory loss and a general state of initiative loss. We are trying hard to believe this as the explanation for the sadly large number of MCVA owners who have yet to pay their R300-00 for 2006/7 subscriptions. We list them below.

Two stalwart members indeed did pay their subscriptions but omitted to provide attribution. Please would they advise us promptly so that we can dissociate them from the others on the LIST OF SHAME. Any others who wish to be similarly dissociated should provide their membership fees post haste.

Naturally we would expect a few people to have a case against us for incompetence and uselessness. Provided only that they mail us to say exactly where we're failing them we would be willing to overlook their non-contribution.

If everyone pays up the revenue would be R19 000/year. As it is we're R8 000 short and therefore our little area is deprived of that dosh in value-adding activities for the benefit of us all. You can pay by cheque or internet or direct deposit.

We have made appeals from time to time but not with huge success. Happily, however, we have among our owners some exceptionally skilled IT people and we will shortly be approaching them to devise means of hacking into the national credit bureaus and inserting information important for the MCVA's continuing solvency.

Erf 3 Danielle Harris	Erf 29 John Hendrikse
Erf 6 Tracy-Lee Megan	Erf 35 Clive Kerr
Erf 8 David Barritt	Erf 37 Priscilla Smith
Erven 10/11 Steve Wayland	Erf 40 Dean Naidoo
Erf 15 Andrew Eve	Erf 43 Craig Fullerton
Erf 16 Peter Swift	Erf 47 Amir Damji
Erf 18 Andrew Nash	Erf 53 F Blignaut
Erf 19 Owner unidentified	Erf 57 Attilio Dalvit
Erf 21 Glyn Speeckaert	Erf 23 Alan Payne
Erf 24 Michael Fitz	Erf 60 Peter Osborn
Erf 61 Con Bertish	Erf 65 Louis Venter
Erf 67 David Fig	Erf 71 Graham Withers
Erf 77 Cal Bruns

Corroso collapso
There are several wooden houses, or houses on wooden stilts at Misty Cliffs which will inevitably fall down much MUCH sooner than they need because ordinary mild steel bolts have been used in their structures. The electro-galvanizing on these bolts (if any galvanizing at all) is far too thin to be of any use.

It's an easy DIY job, and not particularly expensive, to replace these bolts with those made from 316-grade stainless steel. The old bolts can be driven out simply by removing the nuts and whacking the stainless bolts through the same holes; there's no need to dismantle any parts of the structure.

If the matter is left too long the corroding original bolts will swell and jam inside the holes and so become very difficult to remove.

Salty sea air is viciously corrosive, and paint or powder-coating merely postpones its attack on ordinary steel. Owners contemplating building should insist that 316 stainless steel fastenings are used, and that where brass is required it should be solid brass and not brass plate (builders notoriously use brass plated materials, so walk around your building site with a magnet to check up on them!). Similarly insist that marine-grade aluminium is used for items such as window frames; the grade should be stated in the supplier's specification.

If you plan to use wooden door and window frames make certain that they are properly painted all over before being built into masonry. Builders normally paint only the parts that stick out afterwards, leaving the unseen parts to absorb moisture and begin to rot much sooner than you'd expect.

An expensive house can quickly lose a good deal of its value by showing signs of rot, rust and corrosion surprisingly soon after it's built.

Baboons
Our relatives haven't given us much trouble lately, but rest assured that they will! Much of our angst, not to mention inappropriate efforts to get rid of them arises from poor understanding. Of great interest there is a now a most entertaining and informative 52-minute video which does a really good job of unfreezing our hearts towards these interesting creatures. Titled "The Last Baboons of Good Hope", it is highly recommended and definitely essential reading for newcomers to our area. It's available at R60 from the penguin shop at Boulders and probably (SANParks don't know!) from other Parks branches. Believe it or not, SANParks isn't listed in the phone book - but then every Japanese and Ruritanian tourist would know to look under Table Mountain National Park, 701-8692.

There is also now a Baboon Shop at the Southern Right Hotel, which is the new name of the rejigged Glencairn Hotel, and now rather a pleasing establishment to patronise. The shop is also the "base camp" for Baboon Matters run by Jenni Trethowan (021-783-3882) who takes groups of people on baboon walks. They know her and if the folk she takes follow her instructions it's possible and safe to get right in among the baboons to watch them while Jenni passes on her knowledge. You can phone the shop (and sometimes find Jenni there) on 782-2015. Alternatively call her directly on 084-413-9482 - but bear in mind that she turns her celtel off when she's aping on the mountain.

Building
Plans for alterations to the house on Erf 9 have been approved. Regarding the ongoing problems with Erf 29 we are in continual contact with the authorities and are presently awaiting communications from the SPA in respect of the weakened support of Old Camp Road, the application for conditional use of the pool/entertainment area, and the demolition of the existing garage and its replacement with a "temporary garage".

Hazardous exits
Most of the Misty houses along the M65 find it a hairy experience to come out of their driveways onto the main road. During April we had a meeting with the appropriate SPA people in which no less than nine issues related to road safety in our area were raised. The SPA responded within a few days, setting out the points and including "Action by …" statements. Since then there hasn't been any visible action, but we are continuing to pester them. One of the issues raised was the need for mirrors on poles so that exiting drivers can check for jumbos making emergency landings on the road. Generally, however, the Council isn't keen on mirrors because they can dangerously flash reflections from headlight beams and sunlight. Mounted mirrors are also magnets for vandals, and on a coastal road also require frequent cleaning. We'll keep at it.

Party time
Don't forget to diarize the end-of-year Misty thrash on 17 December. The inaugural party last year was a resounding success despite it having been on rather an inconvenient date. All who came were unanimous for a repeat, which is extraordinary - seldom are the members of our community in total agreement about anything. It says a lot for the event and even more for Lyn Mossop and crew who did the brilliant food.

Environmental control officer's report
We draw your attention to the flourishing floral recovery of the ugly wound made by the road construction camp towards the top of Old Camp Road. The ground-cover is spreading rapidly and there are lots of planted seedlings pushing up that should become more visible within a few months.

The steep sandy slope below the south-end turning area is also covering nicely despite the heavy rain which did its best to wipe out our terracing. The rocky shoulder along that section of road still looks rather raw but we have planted a large number of pelargonium seedlings among the rocks and these should grow well once the days are longer and warmer. Taking out alien seedlings along this stretch is an almost daily job, but we're slowly winning.

It's routine but we like to keep reminding you that after every heavy rain we clean out the channels and catchpits which block very quickly with eroded soil and builders' materials ! ! !

Official things
The IZS (integrated zoning scheme) appears still to be in limbo but we believe is receiving continuing official attention because it is regarded as a priority. We are still hopeful of receiving "special area status" and are drawing up an application in step with information being gleaned from official sources. A relevant aspect of this status and which will also be part of the IZS is the set of revised regulations governing environmental impact assessments. The revisions are intended to speed up the process and discourage undue stalling, however, cynics believe the real reason is to prevent developers from being thwarted by environmental concerns.

Tell us
Contributions to our (your) newsletter would be welcomed. Don't hold back if you can't write or spell; we'll fix up what you offer and tell no one. We're particularly interested in complaints and suggestions, and we thicken our skins and never take offence. Contact any of us:

Doug Tunbridge, chairman. Member communications, 786-3842.
Lyn Mossop, treasurer. SUBSCRIPTIONS (and donations, bequests etc), 780-1178.
Leon Morris. Community matters, monitoring legislation, etc, 780-1256.
Richard Court. Baboons, website, new legislation, "special area" stuff, 083-376-9933.
Schalk Visser. Building and plans, 881-3024..
Tim Anderson. Minutes, newsletter, environment, 674-2834.

Picture
For our header photo this time round we thank our friend Anthony Allen of "The Aerial Perspective", an outfit which also specialises in property photography.

Words
NEED copywriting? Effective copy for advertising and marketing. Speciality: engineering and other technical/scientific clients - also instruction books and workshop manuals, including technical illustrations. Speeches for tongue-tied techies, and speeches for unschooled accountants etc FOR techies. Impenetrable technical reports translated into plain language. Editing of technical papers, articles and books. Call Tim on 072-128-2319 or mail to timofpen@mweb.co.za