Correspondence from City of Cape Town Planning and Economic Development Environmental Management Branch and Tygerberg Chamber of Commerce & Industry



Cape Town Administration PLANNING AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT BRANCH Tygerberg Chamber of Commerce and Industry P O Box 2669 BELLVILLE 7535 Dear Sir SUBJECT: OUTDOOR ADVERTISING (DISPLAY OF ESTATE AGENT BOARDS THROUGHOUT THE UNICITY) I acknowledge receipt of your letter dated 2002-02-25, the contents of which have been duly noted. With regard to the general statements raised in your letter, I wish to respond as follows: GENERAL 1. It is acknowledged that the Property Industry is contributing in the creation of employment and that they deliver an essential service to the community by assisting them in the sale and purchase of property, but the City is in no way prohibiting the display of estate agent boards, nor preventing agents from selling properties as stated in your letter dated 2002-02-25. The new By-Law seeks only to regulate the display of such boards. 2. The City has employed two contracting firms, in addition to the existing staff in each of the local administrations, to monitor and enforce the display of illegal posters, estate agent boards, banners and signs, etc, throughout the City of Cape Town. 3. The Estate Agents have not been singled out in any way as the Outdoor Advertising and Signage By-Law seeks to control ALL forms of advertising signs, which includes posters, billboards, locality bound signs etc. There are 17 Schedules in the By-Law which cover all forms of outdoor advertising signs, of which the display of estate agent signs are just one. In response to the list of complaints that you have submitted on behalf of the agents, I wish to respond as follows: COMPLAINTS 1. The Institute of Estate Agents and other agencies were given every opportunity to participate in the public participation process when it was widely advertised in all the major newspapers as well as in all the community newspapers. The Institute was also personally invited to attend the public hearings to comment on the draft By-Law, yet they failed to do so. However, they did submit written comments on the proposed draft regulations of which ten of the thirteen comments submitted by the Institute were incorporated into the final By-Law. 2. The Estate Agency Industry has not been singled out, as stated previously, and all outdoor signage is enforced in terms of the By-Law. Photographic evidence of contraventions over week-ends which are taken by law-enforcement staff members are available for viewing and the boards that are illegally displayed during the week, are removed by our contractors. A complete list of the location, the number of boards removed and the contravening agency, is supplied to the Administration on a weekly basis for billing purposes. I can further assure you that there is no selective policing of agents in the City. 3. I do not agree with your statement that the regulations are affecting free trading due to the limitation of the number of boards permitted and the six boards permitted in terms of the By-Law is considered quite adequate. In some instances, some agents have been using up to 15 directional boards for their showhouse over a week-end, where in fact , six would have been quite sufficient. This large number of boards being displayed has a tendency to saturate a particular area over week-ends, and has often led to complaints by other local agents, who are complying with the number of boards permitted to be displayed (ie six). The City of Cape Town is unique in it's natural beauty and it's many scenic routes and the prohibition of estate agents boards along these routes is not considered unreasonable as these visual routes should be kept clear of from all forms of advertising. Many agents have acknowledged this fact and have complied with this condition for many years. The alternative is to give a more detailed directional route in the newspaper advertisements over the week-end, as is the norm in the Cape town Administration area. The two-week limitation for estate agents' "sold boards " is not considered too short and in the past, agencies have taken the liberty of leaving their boards outside houses for months on end, thus gaining free advertising and adding to the "visual clutter" of signs in residential areas. There are time limits for all types of signs in the By-Law and estate agents have not been treated any differently. Where there are no lamp poles available for placing directional boards, an agent can contact the local Administration to discuss a particular problematic location and compromises can be considered or, alternatively, agents can give more detailed directional information in the advertisements. 4. Certain routes in the City will always be prohibited routes for advertising purposes and alternatives will need to be sought. 5. The 12pm time limit was debated extensively by the Outdoor Advertising Working Group as it was discovered, in discussions, that in each Administration the previous times permitted for the erection of show boards ie, 8am Saturday morning, was never adhered to. Agents were putting up boards as early as 1pm on a Friday afternoon and the Administrations were faced with numerous telephone complaints regarding this practice, not only from other agents, but from residents as well. The 12pm on a Saturday morning was felt to be a solution to this problem and has not been negatively received by all agents. In some of the comments received during the public participation process, suggestions were even put forward to ban estate agent boards outright, as is the practice in certain areas in Gauteng, but the City recognised and acknowledged the need for the Industry to display their boards. 6. The payment of a deposit in lieu of contraventions is considered necessary as in the past, this deposit has been depleted by certain agencies in one weekend. Contraventions do take place on a weekly basis, and in the three-month period of January to March this year, contraventions amounting to R 17 000,00 have already been billed/deducted from deposits for such contraventions. There are however certain agents who at all times abide by the rules, but it has been proved that the majority of agents do not. It is not Council's policy to have interest-bearing accounts for deposits and even deposits paid by huge development companies for hoardings etc are not paid in interest-bearing accounts. Council is further not obliged in any way to open up such accounts. Each contravention charged for an illegal board displayed over a week-end is supported by photographic evidence and a detailed statement which includes the location and nature of such contravention, is posted to the agents on a weekly basis. There is no distinction between a small agency and a large agency as both agencies enjoy the same rights to display their boards. The administration of monitoring the number of agents within an agency to determine what types of fees and charges is payable would be an impossible task to administer as agents come and go on a regular basis. The City of Cape Town has been divided into three areas of control for Outdoor Advertising and I attach herewith a copy of Schedule 1 of the By-Law which lists the minimum, partial and maximum control areas. RECOMMENDATIONS 1. In order to prevent time delays in the administrative process for billing of contraventions, a deposit is required up front. Photographic evidence is also available for contraventions over week-ends and no boards are permitted to be displayed during the week. Should any boards be removed during the week, our contractors will supply a complete list of location, date, name of agency and number of boards displayed. The boards will be kept in storage until payment is receiv