Join us on 16th November at Gossip Corner and if you cant please give a proxy if there is any voting - see below for the form

COMMUNICATION FROM RERA CHAIR
Good day all Rooielsers,
 
When the current RERA Committee was established at the end of 2017 the members of the Committee looked at our role and responsibilities. One of our responsibilities is to comment on legislation taking into account the interests of Rooiels and it’s  peoples in keeping with our Vision. Other principles that we adopted were that of good neighbourliness, communication to ‘make the circle bigger’, bridging different opinions, finding common ground and recognition of people’s rights. The Committee decided that we would try to be as ‘democratic’ as possible to involve all the ratepayers in making decisions. This is a daunting task because there will always be a difference of opinion.   The trick is to find the middle ground of what is in the community interest as opposed to individual freedom.
 
The RERA committee is committed to listen to the views and opinions of all its members.  We see RERA as the collective voice of all its members.  We continuously work to make the circle bigger.   It is a challenging task.
 
The long-awaited amendments to the following Regulations have been published for public comment which is due on 2 December 2019:
 

• Zoning Scheme Regulations gazetted in November 2013
• Overstrand by-laws and Municipal Land Use 2015

• Draft Enviromental Management Overlay Zones Regulations published in September 2016 and
• Draft Heritage Protection Overlay Zone Regulations published 30 September 2016  

 
The Overstrand Municipality has spent considerable time in a process for establishing planning guidelines that will help to protect the environment and the cultural and aesthetic heritage and economic value of the Overstrand.  Links to these documents are provided on the RERA page on the website.  To ensure that Rooiels is able to provide a co-ordinated response, RERA convened a working group that brought together a broad spectrum of views in Rooiels.  The group was further sub-divided into one working on legislative issues, one with more focus on the environment and one on the existing situation in Rooiels.  These groups have been meeting regularly in person and through email and working tirelessly since July. 
Consensus still needs to be reached on certain issues. To this end RERA has decided not to make decisions on certain matters in the Regulations until after the Information Cascade on 16 November 2019.
 
Please provide any comment, feedback and ideas to the RERA Chairperson ([email protected]) before the 13th November for discussion on 16 November. The key documents are attached here and others providing more background are available on the Rooiels website, including the findings of the Existing Situation in Rooiels from the Environment Group, the Proposal for Inclusion in the Buffer Zone, the ideas for Rooiels to become a Research node and Working Drafts of Key Information to be shared with new residents in future.
Should it necessary to vote on any issues and you are unable to attend the meeting kindly appoint a proxy and send them a completed proxy form (see attached).
We hope that most of you will be able to join us on 16th November at Gossip Corner.+