BELLVILLE
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Woensdag 27 Junie 2012
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) ‘Cradle of athletics’ may relocate
On track for conflict
The athletics track at the Bellville Velodrome. Photo: Carina Roux
JANA BEKKER
The athletics track at the Bellville Velodrome will not be excluded from the development currently under way, but the option to re-locate the track in future is a possibility. This option is being investigated so as to adequately respond to the city’s desire for a new CBD node. Hein Ehlers, managing director of the Velodrome developers, Devmark, said this week an athletics track in the centre of a planned central business hub will be out of context, which is why provision to exclude the track from the Velodrome is made only for the distant future. Uncertainty whether or not the athletics track will survive the development of the Bellville Velo-
drome has prompted a local councillor to submit a motion to halt the project. The motion was submitted by Andrea Crous, councillor of Ward 70, at a subcouncil meeting last week. An application for the rezoning of the Velodrome was approved by the De Grendel Subcouncil in May 2011. At the time, it was stipulated in the Broader Tyger Valley Urban Design Framework and Guidelines that the existing athletics track at the Velodrome continue to function as an outdoor recreational space. It was suggested its existing size be reduced and converted into a series of terraced public open spaces that link Carl Cronjé Road and Willie van Schoor Avenue. When the same application was brought before the subcouncil just more than a year later, the wording
was changed to such an extent that the proposal indicated the existing athletics track was to be converted into a series of terraced public open spaces. “We had meeting after meeting about the timeframe of the development and when the sport clubs can start to move back, but meanwhile they (city officials) are making fools of us,” Crous said last week. At the council meeting, Crous asked the process to be brought to a halt, until answers have been obtained as to what the truth is. She blames city of Cape Town officials, as they were responsible for tender conditions, the rezoning application and the compilation of the broader Tyger Valley framework. “If the Bellville athletics track was to disappear, where would athletes practise?” she asked.
Crous is very concerned that this will result in the suburb losing many of its star athletes. “If parents who have children with Springbok potential find their children without facilities, they will move away,” she says. Another concern for Crous is what was to become of the annual MTBS athletics gathering, a highlight on the schools’ athletics calendar, as well as other interschool athletics meetings. In the land use planning application, it states that the option to re-locate the athletics track is currently being investigated so as to adequately respond to the city’s desire for a new CBD node. “Why is it necessary to turn this area into a new CBD? The Voortrekker Road Corridor Improvement District (VRCID) is the city’s centre and should be the CBD,” she
says. Gert Engelbrecht, chairperson of the track and field events of Bellville Athletics Club, described the possibility of the athletics track being stubbed as unacceptable. “Bellville Velodrome is the cradle of athletics. Many people move to the northern suburbs, specifically for the first-rate athletics training that is offered here,” he said. Engelbrecht said the Bellville club boasted highly qualified coaches of whom many yield Springbok athletes. “If the athletics track were canned, expertise will be lost,” he said. He described the possible omission of the athletics track as a shame. “Is that how little they think of the northern suburbs and the sport?” . To page 3.
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