The Urania Village AGM is THIS Sunday 25 November at 4 pm followed by a Bring & Braai. We hope you will join us.
Here is your latest newsletter:
DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH YOU WILL PAY IN RATES NEXT YEAR!
Come to the Annual General meeting on Sunday 25 November at 4pm at The Observatory and see the draft valuation the Council has calculated for your property!
We are trying to arrange to have a nurse present at the AGM to help us all recover from the shock of the new valuation the Council has put on our properties!
The way rates are calculated will change next year.
There is new legislation in place and the Council also has a draft policy on the implementation of the legislation. What does this mean in practice?
Rates used to be charged on the land value of the property. Rates will now be charged on both the land value and the improvement value. So the new tariffs will be based on the total market value and a new valuation roll will be developed.
Now it’s obvious that if the “rate in the rand” that is charged does not change, but the value of the property is increased, everyone will be paying a massive amount more! Fortunately that will not be the case and the “rate in the rand” will be significantly reduced.
But the value of properties has changed significantly since the last valuation so it’s important that the new valuation on our properties is correct, otherwise we will end up paying more (or less) than we should.
The City has a draft valuation roll out and is looking for comments. Some of the draft valuations in our area are high, and it is unlikely that we would get anywhere near that amount in the market. And if the valuation is too high we will be paying too much!
If you can’t wait until the Annual General Meeting on 25 November you can go to www.joburg.org.za to look at the draft valuation and get more information.
The Council will likely complete the General Valuation Roll by February next year, when it will be open for inspection and objections.
The new tariffs, including the “rate in the rand”, will be likely set in April 2008 and come into effect in July 2008.
There are also other changes in the new legislation and policy that affects the amount of rebates residential properties, especially sectional title, will pay.
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING Sunday 25 November at 4 pm The Telescope Room at The Observatory, 18 Gill Street Followed by a Bring & Braai Braai Fires & Tables provided Pls bring chairs, food & drink
Security in our Village
There are many different ways for criminals to gain access to our properties, even with our community and personal security.
Please be aware that there are a number of very convincing gangs operating and pretending to be friends, council workers or maintenance workers.
Never use a phone number that the person at the gate has given you to verify if they are genuine.
Ensure that no one on your property gives out names, cell phone or land line numbers of people who live and work on your property.
Criminals may appear to know someone on the property very well and may even pretend to phone them, and then tell you that they should come in and wait. Do not let them in. If they are genuine they will understand and come back later.
If you have any doubt do not let anyone through the gate, they can always come back if genuine. The only Council workers who will likely want to gain access are employed by City Power to read meters, and that is only if your meter is on the property and they arrive on the published dates.
If you see something suspicious, report it immediately to our security guards at the gate, and if it’s urgent ring the Flying Squad on 10111.
At the AGM we will hear complaints about security BUT residents are still not logging every incident in the logbook. The logbook is at the gate. Please put everything in this book. We then have a historical record that will help us all plan and improve security. It’s surprising how many times we are told about an incident months after it has happened, we even have to wait till the AGM to find out about some incidents. So please use the log book, it helps us develop an understanding about trends, and ensures we can work closely with both our own security and the police.
Please report any suspicious individuals you see in our area at intersections and within the community. It does not matter if we are wrong, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.
As previously reported the local Police have also implemented regular patrols in Urania Village, normally twice a day, and we continue to request that as well as a visible presence there also be more use made of plain clothes police, as we have found that there has been an increase in daylight muggings, so please be alert. Call the police if you see anything suspicious, not after an incident.
THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING IS YOUR OPPORTUNITY TO VOTE WHO YOU WANT ON TO THE COMMITTEE .
PikiTup has commissioned a recycling trial, involving 106 households in Urania Village, which will run for 3 weeks starting August 3rd, with a band of field-workers knocking on doors to ask for your support and collecting data on your waste output.
They are leaving five coloured bags with you to support separation at source, together with instructions for use.
PLEASE START SEPARATING YOUR WASTE TODAY, FRIDAY, JULY 27TH JULY, 2007
If you want all the documentation, including a questionnaire to be completed, electronically, ask
If you have any questions, ask Jeremy Burnham at
Please note that Pikitup will collect NO wheeliebins for the next three weeks. If you don't want to participate in the recycling project, you'll have to put your tons of waste out in black bags - but we just KNOW you will do your thing...
If we can make this work, then chances are PikiTup will continue with it and we will be leading the way in greening our beautiful city!
The separated waste will be collected on the following FRIDAYS:
FRIDAY, AUGUST 3rd, 2007
FRIDAY, AUGUST 10th, 2007 AND
FRIDAY, AUGUST 17th, 2007
Posted 27 July 2007 by
AGM or Ag Great Meeting!
The Urania Villagers had their AGM on Sunday, followed by a braai and a fireworks display, kindly donated by Mr King Pon from St Georges Road. ' In between all the fun, those who are serious about business can read the chairman report too:
Oh happy days...
...with friends and family around
Chairpersons Report – Annual General Meeting 6 November 2006
I would like to take this opportunity to thank the members of the committee for their work during the last year.
Being a committee member of Urania Village is not always easy, it is rare that committee members are contacted because someone wants to say thank you for a job well done, it is almost always because there is a problem. I’m not sure if it is human nature to only focus on the negative aspects of life, but I know I’m as guilty as the next person.
From left Harry Kalmer, Keith Peacock and Arno Kuhl
Committee members give up their valuable time without any form of remuneration because they are committed to your community. Of course there is a degree of self interest because if the community is successful it means that the largest investment that many of us make, our homes, are secure and it is always with great personal pleasure that I see that many of us are more optimistic about the future when one looks at the additional investment community members are making in their properties.
It has been a mixed year for our community, with some positives and some negative indicators.
Pickitup has improved its service, with collections on public holidays, although there was a recent go-slow that saw our rubbish collection delayed for a day. Street cleaning remains a problem with an apparent reduction in service in our community at the intersections with the Curve and De La Rey. We have held negotiations to reinstate the previous frequency at these intersections where significant levels of rubbish are wind blown into the community from these busy roads. Dumping outside our community especially in De La Rey has been a major problem.
We have seen a number of power cuts, although not on the level endured by other communities in Johannesburg, and there again has been a reduction in major outages. It appears we do not face problems of local electricity capacity and our outages have tended to be linked to supply failures that have affected a large number of suburbs. City Power has secured both the sub stations, and the security at both sub stations in our community appears to have improved, although this was a result of our continued complaints about unsecured doors, which was a safety threat as well as increasing the likelihood of theft. The service has improved in Urania Street with the upgrading of both cables and boxes. However, we still have major problems with street lighting that has regularly failed, plunging our community areas into darkness, and the response times remain unsatisfactory. Members of the committee do regular checks of the streetlights but if you see a single light out, please report it to City Power.
Even Luke The Dog was welcome
Johannesburg Road Agency (JRA) has not had a good year, and appeared incapable of restoring pavements and Urania road after the electrical supply upgrading. It took three efforts and a lot of complaints before they finally got it right. Street markings in our community have been upgraded, but the quality remains problematic. A major problem has been the unacceptable level of accidents at the Curve. There has been a petition, which was initiated by our committee, and than taken up by the Observatory Residents Association (ORA), requesting a re-evaluation of the present layout at the intersection of the Curve with Observatory, which appears to be quite confusing given the number of accidents. The intersection at Innes and Observatory remains a challenge, given the Joburg disease of colour blindness where red is treated as an optional stop signal. Personally, I treat it is a four way stop and only proceed when I’m absolutely convinced the Observatory Avenue traffic is not going to jump the red. Whilst, this problem cannot be blamed on any of our community, the quality of driving at the intersections of Steyn and Innes with Urania still leave much to be desired, with a number of vehicles failing to stop. There is going to be a major accident if we all do not take more care and stop each and every time we get to these intersections. Please also keep an eye on the overhead cables and contact with trees, but please ensure that any request to cut back trees for this reason takes place in winter and not during the nesting season. Also the proactive maintenance of the storm water system in our village has been unsatisfactory, and has been taken up by the committee. The prioritization of incoming traffic at Innes seems to have worked reasonably well, but it is still surprising how many vehicles going out do not stop first, the reason for stopping is obvious, if the guard gets used to certain vehicles expecting the barrier to be raised on approach they will do so on the basis of the car, not the driver!
Johannesburg Metro Police Department (JMPD) has been highly visible at the Curve, although I can never understand why my wife is never stopped, but I am! Observatory Avenue is an important route out of Johannesburg and JMPD has the added advantage that our road closure stops thieves using Urania to bypass the roadblocks. We have also requested speed traps in Observatory Avenue especially at the intersection with Innes and at the Curve; this has also been taken up by ORA.
ORA's Jeremy Burnham (left) chewing the fat with a friend.
City Parks, still have not got grass cutting right, and the problem will reemerge as summer progresses and the rain increases, although most members of our community maintain the communal area outside their own homes, long grass does attract litter, and if your neighbours cannot or will not keep their own area clear, it is sometimes a good investment to give a hand in the interests of civic pride. Please remember burning leaves is illegal and not best practice. The oak trees have still not recovered from the mild winter in 2005, and in spite of requests from the committee, and City Parks taking samples of leaves for evaluate the condition of some of the oaks has not improved and there has been no follow up by City Parks.
The City’s management of bad properties remains unsatisfactory, and although there have been visits by environmental health and other city agencies we have been unable to find a sustainable solution to the bad properties in our area. The committee has maintained pressure on the council administration and our Councillor. The correspondence on this matter is vast and will again need to be taken up by your incoming committee.
Joburg Water, have a good record in terms of response time to bursts and manhole (sic) cover theft and there have been minimum disruptions to supply. However, there is a possibility that water pressure could be a concern if usage increases. Your outgoing committee has requested further information.
Regular maintenance of the closure gates has been undertaken by community members, but we still have problems with “drivers” who are unable to see them, and it is surprising how many times they have been smashed into and our insurance has increased significantly because of this.
I’ve already mentioned the level of activity of building in the community, but a repeat request, please ensure that all building materials and rubble in communal areas are well managed, legal and removed on completion.
Security has been a challenge during this year, and the strike by security guards was a particular problem. Given the levels of violence during the strike the committee focused on ensuring that the nighttime patrols were maintained within the community, although that was at the expense of staffing at the gate. Given that security services were not maintained during the strike at the contractually agreed levels the committee negotiated a reduction for that period. Being a security guard is not the easiest job but our guards have been successful in both preventing crime and capturing thieves, and when they have guns pointed at them they have still successfully tackled the criminals. No security system can or will ever be one hundred percent successful, but the evening/night patrols, which are monitored by the committee appear to have been successful. This follow the same pattern as reported at our last AGM. One area of continued concern is that community members do not always report incidents, very often the first we here is at the AGM! Please ensure that all matters of interest are recorded in the logbook that is at the gatehouse.
Time for games
Finally, may I take this opportunity to thank all of you who have continued to support Urania Village. It is generally accepted that if the closure has to go our investment in our homes will likely plummet by over 20%. This year we made an operating loss because there remains a small minority who do not pay but gain from the benefits of increase house value and a safer community. To increase payment levels will remain the biggest challenge facing the incoming committee
Thank you
Keith Peacock
6 November 2006
The lovely Mrs Palani
Some serious discussion
New Urania Village Committee member Tom Manthate.
The never-ending fireworks
The fireworks master, King Pon (left) with his admirers
Scott gets to grip with the sparklers
Posted 8 November 2006 by
Proposed iBurst Mast in Urania Village
Your input is needed for a proposed 12 meter mast iBurst is planning to erect in Urania Village on our skyline. We are attaching the correspondence of Stephanie Le Hanie, who represents iBurst and also the objection of the Urania Village residents for your input. Send your comments to
We, Executive Environmental Network cc, are facilitating the environmental impact assessment process for this application of IBURST to construct a 12m mast at no 2 Steyn Street.
We faxed the same notification: “NOTICE OF APPLICATION FOR ENVIRONMENTAL AUTHORISATION” for IBURST (as mentioned on all the notifications distributed by hand) to Ms Carol Milner that we delivered to adjacent land owners last week. The wording of the attached notification, which has been distributed, has been approved by GDACE.
We faxed the same notification: “NOTICE OF APPLICATION FOR ENVIRONMENTAL AUTHORISATION” for IBURST (as mentioned on all the notifications distributed by hand) to Ms Carol Milner that we delivered to adjacent land owners last week. The wording of the attached notification, which has been distributed, has been approved by GDACE.
Exemption from the EIA Regulations might be finally considered, but might also be rejected. “Exemption” does not mean that no detailed studies are being requested by GDACE and that GDACE is taking this application lightly. This is only a difference in process. It only means that in stead of applying via the normal (non-relevant) documentation of the general application for EIA’s, we are applying according to the GAUCONS policy of GDACE. This means that we must submit three different application forms for three different locations specifically designed by GDACE for communication masts and they will choose one that we must advertise, which they will consider to approve. If we do not follow the “Exemption” route, we will only submit the general application form, advertise one location and submit one scoping report with the normal requirements of the EIA Regulations, which GDACE found not to be focused on masts and not comprehensive enough for the visual impact of communication masts.
Exemption from the EIA Regulations might be finally considered, but might also be rejected. “Exemption” does not mean that no detailed studies are being requested by GDACE and that GDACE is taking this application lightly. This is only a difference in process. It only means that in stead of applying via the normal (non-relevant) documentation of the general application for EIA’s, we are applying according to the GAUCONS policy of GDACE. This means that we must submit three different application forms for three different locations specifically designed by GDACE for communication masts and they will choose one that we must advertise, which they will consider to approve. If we do not follow the “Exemption” route, we will only submit the general application form, advertise one location and submit one scoping report with the normal requirements of the EIA Regulations, which GDACE found not to be focused on masts and not comprehensive enough for the visual impact of communication masts.
The mast is proposed on top of the hill, next to the eastern perimeter wall, close to the northeastern corner of no 2 Steyn Street - behind the carport in the backyard of the mentioned property.
We have submitted three alternative locations on this stand and the Gauteng Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Environment (GDACE) has chosen the option mentioned above. As our notification stated, GDACE can approve or reject the application still. If you have any knowledge of any endangered species, which can be impacted upon by this IBURST (24 Hour Internet Service Company), kindly inform us as such.
We will inform you of the outcome of our visual impact study, which should be completed by end of August 2006.
We are waiting for the radio planner of IBURST to issue a formal motivation for the requirement of this mast at this location. We expect it also to be submitted to our company by the end of August 2006.
Since we do not have access to all the required documentation pertaining to the proposal at this stage, we would be unable to do a thorough presentation, but we will forward all the documents mentioned above to the residents’ association before we submit all the letters and studies to GDACE for their final review.
The purpose of the public participation is to obtain site specific information from the community, should there be any information, which they hold, which should be taken into consideration with the review of the application. GDACE categorizes objections into two groups: Global and site specific issues. Global issues will be dismissed, since they have been researched by GDACE and found not to be detrimental or not true but site specific issues must be thoroughly investigated and will influence the review.
Global issues are objections to the perceived health impact (which is the mandate of the Department of Health), property devaluation, increased traffic, increased crime, electronic interference, increase risk of lightning damage.
Site specific issues are: consideration of feasible alternatives (If you could forward us feasible sites, where this mast can be relocated to, which will cover the same area as the site on top of the hill, it would assist us – this is usually what objectors do.), visual impacts (The visual impact study will be completed by the end of August 2006), impact on vegetation, fauna and noise.
Stephanie le Hanie; Member: Executive Environmental Network CC / Zemvelo Joint Venture
Re: Project: Observatory Gauteng 002/06-07/0237 Proposed Exemption from EIA Regulations, erection of 12m mast at 2 Steyn Street, Observatory.
Urania Village, a local residents’ association, is concerned about the proposed erection of the above mast on Observatory Ridge, a protected green area used for recreation.
The fact that Iburst is seeking exemption from environmental regulations is a concern in itself, residents would be happier if Iburst adhered to these regulations which are put in place to safeguard the public and the environment.
A 12m grey lattice mast with 12 omni antennae and 1 panel antenna sounds very tall and unattractive, not in keeping with the treed area of Observatory.
Residents want assurance that when they sit in their gardens or have friends round for a braai, this mast would not be visible from any homes at all, and that there are no lights shining on or near the mast at night.
They also want assurance from a reputable source that bird life will not be threatened in any way by the mast or radio waves or any other electronic emissions. In recent years owls have been returning to the Ridge as well as small mammals such as genets.
Residents are requesting information on where we can view other masts the same as this one and see what the impact is, and ask local residents in those areas how they feel about such masts. We also need to see the EIAs for these other masts.
Residents are concerned that a protected green area such as the Ridge, which can have no building structure on it or any other interference, could have an unattractive metal construction such as a 12m mast erected. This construction is of no benefit to anyone in the vicinity and can only spoil the environment, and residents fear it could be imposed by outsiders against the wishes of the community.
Posted 4 September 2006 by
URANIA VILLAGE NEWSLETTER
August 2006
Community pride?
As a community we are always pleased to see investment in properties in our area, as it adds value not only to the property being developed but to property prices as a whole. We also know and accept that building alterations will always mean some mess outside our gates on the pavement.
However, can we all please ensure that building rubble and garden rubbish is removed as soon as the alterations are completed, as the Council will likely start fining those of us not complying with the bylaws on building materials and waste.
We also have a massive problem with illegal dumping of building waste in Johannesburg, so please ensure that any builders you are using do not illegally dump.
The pavement on the south side of Urania has now been repaired (after three false starts). This was part of the upgrading of the power supply in Urania Village. The door to the electricity sub station on the corner of Stein and Urania has also been repaired and properly secured.
The streetlights go off, come on and off again, and if you see any that are out please report them immediately to 375 5555 and give pole number. It’s a general problem but please continue to complain as they are part of making our village safer.
The oak trees did not fair well with a warm winter last year, and then a wet summer and we are waiting for the results of tests on their rather pathetic leaves. It is hoped the colder (and it has been Cold!) weather this winter will help their recovery.
The quality of street cleaning has not been great, and we have complained. But we can all help! Apart from ensuring Pikitup is aware of our dissatisfaction, we can keep the pavements and verges outside our properties neat and tidy.
Finally, many thanks to all in ORA and our very own Urania Village who have given up time to clean up the ridge and Observatory Avenue.
