The guy who wrote the Thesen Islands Design Guidelines (hyperbole!) and past Chairman of the Design Review PaneI gives his view on the Wall

I asked my brother, Gray Rutherford*, to give his opinion on the boundary wall at P76, as there is no one better qualified than him to give an objective interpretation of the Guidelines.  

I requested Henk Booysen, General Manager of the TIHOA to table his opinion below at both the Trustees meeting on 8 December and the Design Review Panel meeting of 10 December, 2015. 

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Dear Ken,

Boundary Wall at P76 Thesen Islands

As the co-ordinator and compiler of the Thesen Islands Design Guidelines and Chairman of the Design Review PaneI for a number of years you requested my views on the above. They are as follows:

The boundary wall should not have been approved by the Thesen Islands Design Review Panel for a number of reasons, but primarily and most importantly:

It does not adhere to the Thesen Islands Design Concept set out on the first page of the Guidelines. The Design Concept specifies white timber picket fencing along property boundaries. This should be the first test of the Design Review Panel and as it fails it, the DRP would have no need to address the detail. 

However, I will take it further:

1. The use of a later (flawed) definition of a lane to the original Guidelines that somehow permits high boundary walls is clearly in conflict with the Design Concept.  A lane is simply a narrower street. It has the same requirements.

2. The argument that because this property has a zero building line where the fence is situated permits a boundary wall is incorrect.  It is a zero building line i.e, for buildings, not walls.

3. The Boundary Fences section in the Guidelines (note the heading is not Boundary Fences and Walls) is specific regarding Lanes and Courtyards.  It refers to fences only.

4. The only place where limited boundary walls may have been permitted in certain circumstances is in Concept Design and Regulation Plans (sometimes referred to as “Site Specific”) for certain small (usually less than 500 sq.m) property precincts.  P76 is not in one of these areas.

5. The wall colour is blue. The fence it has replaced would have been white.

Gray Rutherford      4 December 2015

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* (1) If you are a recent arrival in Knysna, you may be wondering what Gray Rutherford had to do with Belvidere Estate & Thesen Islands. Belvidere Estate is a result of his vision and Thesen Islands would not have happened without him. Gray doesn’t see the need to shine the light on his achievements, which opens the door for others to misappropriate as their own.       

Read:
"The Belvidere Estate Story - By Pixie & Mick Roberts" in the blog.

Hyperbole: Exaggerated statements or claims not meant to be taken literally.