CID financials get sub-council nod

The financial statement for the Scott Estate and Baviaanskloof City Improvement District (SEBCID) was passed at the first Sub-council 20 meeting of the year last week.

Helen Snell, who chairs the CID’s board, told the Sentinel that the non-profit company provides top-up municipal services to almost 500 homes in Ward 74.

The ward includes Llandudno, Hout Bay, Hangberg and Imizamo Yethu.

The SEBCID was established in July 2020 and is the youngest of six CIDs in the ward, according to Ms Snell. It is bounded by Wood Road to the north, Hanging Meadows Estate to the south, Hout Bay Main Road to the west and Table Mountain National Park to the east.

Like other CIDs it gets no money from the City, but homeowners in the area all pay an additional rate that is collected by the City and then remitted back to the CID’s board to be used in accordance with the business plan the community has approved.

The CID has a network of cameras backed by an uninterrupted power supply and it clears alien vegetation on the mountainside to improve biodiversity and prevent fires.

Other projects include clearing and pruning the greenbelt below Darling Street, removing graffiti on all the bridges and pipework and sprucing up pavements between Darling Street and the greenbelt.

It is also asking residents to check their gardens and pavements and remove bugweed (Solanum mauritianum), a fast-growing exotic.

Mr Quintas said the CID’s financial statement had been well received at the meeting. “This CID is very well run, does great work and social investment and does not just top up what the City does.”

Last week’s meeting also heard an application for the granting of an off-consumption liquor licence to the Hout Bay Market. Mr Quintas said the application had met with no objections at the meeting and had been endorsed by himself, sub-council chairwoman Xanthea Limberg as well as the City’s fire, health and law enforcement departments.

“It’s an institution of many years and there have never been any complaints,” Mr Quintas said of the market.