The first 1.8m street facing brick wall...

Yes, folks. We have taken the first step to living behind high walls on Thesen Islands. The first 1.8m high brick wall has just been built at P76.

So now you can recapture the feeling you had in Johannesburg or Cape Town living behind a high wall. Block the view of your neighbours walking past. Don't like 'em anyway.  Maybe add electric fencing on the top. Keep 'em out!  

If every homeowner in this lane builds a 1.8m wall, all choosing to paint it in their own house colours, this “lane” would have checkered 1.8m walls down both sides. It would look like a very average townhouse complex in Cape Town or Johannesburg, but definitely not Thesen Islands.  

If you feel this a a good idea let the HOA know. Then the Design Review Panel can  retroactively change the Design Guidelines to allow this. But, you ask, this wall must have been approved?  Yes, it was. Even though the Thesen Islands design philosophy and the actual Guidelines don't allow it. 

If, like me, you think this is a huge blunder that has serious consequences for the look and feel of Thesen Islands and, yes, is a threat to our property values, then write to the HOA and tell them. 

The HOA trustees, committee members and staff are well intentioned, work hard and want to make Thesen Islands the best it can be. And we home owners must be thankful that there are home owners who donate their time and skill to be trustees & committee members. We must not forget that. 

Thesen Islands belongs to all of us. And we need to look after it. Home owners need to interact with the trustees, committees and staff to let them know what we think and see. If we hadn't done that a year ago when the scheme was floated to sell off the Parkland, we'd be looking at bulldozers today. And builder's trucks 5 days a week for a few years all the way from Waterfront Drive to the far end of the Islands.  For a few more cents in our pockets. And a lot of Rands in other pockets.    

Aside from a letter I have written directly to the Design Review Panel , I have written this to the Trustees of the HOA:

2 December, 2015

Trustees of the Thesen Islands Home Owners Association

Dear Trustees,

The Design Review Panel has made a stunning error approving a 1.8m high masonry street facing wall recently built at P76. Blunders like this will change the look and feel of Thesen Islands irreversibly.  

If you think I am being alarmist, please read the attached 2013 letter to Richard Wilkinson from my brother Gray Rutherford (1) regarding the experiences at Belvidere Estate when their Architectural Committee took “ …a more accommodating approach.”   

(Reading on the blog?: See " Gray Rutherford on the pitfalls of a more accommodating approach..." for this letter.) 

This 1.8m wall should never have been approved. Not from what Thesen Islands is meant to be, nor the specific requirements for street facing fences.

Here is what our website says about the design philosophy for Thesen Islands (bold added by me):

The New Urbanist, or Traditional Neighbourhood Design philosophy, underlies the design concepts and planning of Thesen Islands. 

Livable neighbourhoods are those built to reduce dependency on cars, provide easy access to public and commercial amenities, increase community interactivity, improve cost-effectiveness of services and provide a simplified but higher quality of life. The focus is on the pedestrian as opposed to the motor vehicle. Buildings, open spaces, streets and walkways are scaled down for the pedestrian to experience and relate to with enjoyment and appreciation. 

http://www.thesenislands.co.za/lifestyle/nudc.html

And from the Design Concept at the beginning of the Design Guidelines:

The Islands’ architecture is “Colonial Maritime” – identifying with Knysna’s historic vernacular architecture and seafaring connection. The concept is based on criteria derived from Cape Colonial buildings, but without the Victorian embellishments. The concept emphasizes simplicity, human scale and vertical proportions, traditional plan form, harmony, refined details and natural colours. Buildings are smooth plastered brick or timber clad frames. Wooden verandahs, decks, railings, boardwalks, gazebos and picket fencing reflect the Thesen Islands’ and Knysna’s timber heritage

Then if you read further in the Guidelines:   

D35. Boundary Fences Apart from their visual appeal the Thesen Islands picket fences define the edge and scale of the streets. The pickets reinforce the vertical vernacular form. See definition of Picket. No part of a fence or wall may extend over the property boundary.

Street facing fence: A fence of an approved picket design in treated timber or approved composite material with timber proportions and painted white between 0.6 and 1.2 metres in height must be erected along the entire street and parkland boundary of the property or the outer estate lagoon facing boundary. These fences must have posts placed on the private side and face towards the public areas or be both side friendly. Street and public facing picket fences must have 40% openings for example if the picket is 100mm wide, an opening of 40mm must be between pickets. Gate width not to exceed 6.5 metres.

Lanes and Courtyards have site specific designs. In order to ensure variety, adjacent properties may not use the same design. The street facing fence must include a gate opening to the outside with an enclosed area behind sufficient for the storage and concealment of two refuse bins. Adjacent properties to have different picket fence designs. Entrance features: an entrance feature forming part of the fence may be erected outside building lines. Size must be limited and cannot be linked to other structures. Must be a light weight structure and be simple in design.

In reply to my query, Elfrieda Loubser, most likely on information from the Design Review Panel, wrote that a lane is not a street: It is beyond obvious that the Guidelines intend, and state, no difference when it comes to street facing fencing. 

Also, I was told, that zero building lines mean you can build a 1.8m wall facing the street.  Walk around Thesen Islands, paying particular attention to where garages are built on the boundary line. See if you see any 1.8m masonry walls. You won’t because it would not have been approved. You only see picket fences. 

Whatever, verbal gymnastics are used, a 1.8m masonry boundary wall with about a metre of stone cladding and painted blue and white is not a street facing picket fence.

If every homeowner in this lane builds a 1.8m wall, all choosing to paint it in their own house colours, this “lane” would have checkered 1.8m walls down both sides. It would look like a very average townhouse complex in Cape Town or Johannesburg, but definitely not Thesen Islands.  

The value of Thesen Islands is maintained by keeping to the standards. A Design Review Panel that does not understand the design philosophy of the Thesen Islands and ignores clearly written requirements is a threat to the value. 

This is a dangerous precedent that can change the character of Thesen Islands. Do we want to be another Security Estate living behind high walls?

1.8m walls certainly do not facilitate “increased community activity” between residents.

1.8m walls are not “scaled down for the pedestrian to experience and relate to with enjoyment and appreciation”.

1.8m walls destroy the essence of Thesen Islands and shut off neighbour from neighbour.

Thank you for reading this.

Yours sincerely,

Ken Rutherford

P79

(1) If you are a recent arrival in Knysna, you may be wondering what Gray had to do with Belvidere Estate and 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 claim as their own. Read "The Belvidere Estate Story" on this blog.