Dear Welgevonden Estate Homeowners and Residents
Progress with the Welgevonden Park development
The required consent use application for the Welgevonden Pak development was completed and is currently with the Stellenbosch Municipality for consideration and approval. Feedback is expected at the end of this month (April 2024).
Once approval has been granted, Excom will proceed to appoint the professional project team with responsibilities that will include, amongst others, the finalisation of the building plans for submission to Stellenbosch Municipality.
Special general meeting
We are planning a special general meeting to be held in May 2024 to consider and approve the inclusion of two padel courts in the Welgevonden Park development. Confirmation of the date and the notice for the meeting will follow soon.
The background to this meeting is that the WHOA members approved the development of the Welgevonden Park – an integrated leisure and lifestyle facility on Welgevonden Estate – at the WHOA AGM that was held on 24 November 2022. Since then, Excom received requests from various homeowners to also include padel courts in the development, which led to an opinion survey in October 2023 to determine WHOA members’ preferences in this regard. Due to the overwhelmingly positive result of the survey, a memorandum and draft special resolution to consider and approve the inclusion of two padel courts in the Welgevonden Park development was tabled at the AGM that was held on 29 November 2023.
However, at the latter AGM an incorrect announcement – since documented – was made that the special resolution for increased expenditure for the Welgevonden Park development had not been passed when, in fact, it had been passed. The result of this was that discussion of, and voting on, the padel court special resolution did not take place.
This oversight was corrected after the meeting (please see more information here). The fact that the special resolution for increased expenditure on the Welgevonden Park development had in fact been passed, signified that the special resolution for adding the two padel courts still had to be addressed and voted on. For this reason, the special general meeting will be called to finalise this outstanding matter.
Pedestrian safety
Incidents of near traffic accidents on Welgevonden Estate with pedestrians involved are being reported from time-to-time to the estate office. In general, these incidents relate to pedestrians jogging or walking with headphones, or being occupied with their cellphones to the extent that they are unaware of the traffic close by, or seemingly oblivious to the environment around them.
We urge pedestrians to take note that the estate’s roads are effectively public roads and not a carefree open exercise track to use while consuming media. Normal pedestrian road safety protocols must be observed!
Trees and shrubs near the security fence
We again wish to point out that trees, shrubs, or plants may not be planted in the close proximity of the security fence or security structures, as these may interfere with the functionality of the estate’s electric fence and perimeter security cameras. A distance of at least 1,5 m away from the fence is required.
Properties where this applies are located along the security fence in the following streets:
Scarlet Close
The lower end of Mountain Silver Drive
Holy Oak
Forest
Red Oak
Fynbos
Wildeklawer
Campher
Routine inspections take place to ensure the functionality of the perimeter fence and associated equipment. The owner or occupant of an erf that borders on the security fence and structures must at all reasonable times allow Excom, or a person authorised thereto, to enter the erf to carry out inspections, repairs or maintenance of the Estate security system. If a person is obstructed from, or hindered in, the performance of her/his duties contemplated in Rule 22 of the WHOA Estate Rules, the owner of the erf concerned may be liable for any additional costs incurred by Excom in the performance of such duties.
Limited visitor parking space
Despite various communications and requests not to park on visitors’ parking bays, we still observe residents not complying. Please, again, take note that the estate has limited parking space for visitors, and that parking control measures are in place that apply to Welgevonden estate – please click here for more information.
In essence, residents may only park on their own erven, and not on visitor parking bays, on pavements, or any other area on the estate, unless they have a special permit to do so. This also applies to trailers and boats on trailers that may not be parked on pavements or elsewhere. These must be parked on the owner’s erf.
Please take note that penalties will be imposed for transgressions in terms of the WHOA regulations.
Peacocks
We have previously communicated about peacocks being regarded as an exotic nuisance species in South Africa. Currently we have various complaints about these birds damaging homeowners’ properties and creating an unhygienic environment on the estate. They are, furthermore, a nuisance, and destroy the estate’s natural fauna and flora.
We request residents not to feed the peacocks as it will lure them further onto the estate, and allow for an increase in their numbers.
Lost and Found
The estate’s security team has collected several lost and found items that are being kept at the security office at the R44 entrance. These include towels, flip flops, and balls. These items will be held for 30 days and, if not collected, given to charity.
Best regards
Gawie Marx
Estate Manager
9 April 2024
