Random thoughts on the AGM 29 December, 2016

Peter and Georgie Hudson walking their dogs - October 2002

The expected “Shootout at the OK Corral” never happened.  After weeks of hearing (second hand) badmouthing of the trustees and the terrible job they were doing, and how they will or deserved to be tossed out, the reported malcontents folded like a cheap suit and decided a Christmas brunch was a better option than attending the meeting.

That was the best decision they could have made. The owners attending the meeting seemed galvanized by the rumblings of the discontents and were not in the mood to see the current trustees undone by rumour and misinformation. 

Graham Power, a shareholder through Power Developments in the TI Development Company and whose Power Construction built the infrastructure, got a poor response when he got up to speak about the Parkland (“Where is Chris? Is Chris here? He can explain everything.”) and soon realized which way the wind was blowing – and so, assuring his place on the right side of the record, seconded the motion for the Trustees to try to reclaim ownership of the HOA buildings, tennis and squash courts from the Parkland Trust (which had been sold to the said trust for R1). 

The meeting was long as usual but without a lot of personal complaints, a feature of past AGMs. There was a feeling that we’re all in this together and decisions need to be taken in the interests of all owners.  And that we need to trust the trustees to do this.

I think the trust has been earned by the work they have done. The Chairman, Bill Cooper, was impressive in his grasp of all the issues and ran the meeting well. The trustees who reported on their Portfolios were concise and on top of their game.

The new fingerprint system controlling access and egress is working well. In the spirit of the meeting, no one complained about guys like me holding them up. I’m getting the hang of how to show my finger to the machine and often get through on my first attempt.  I, like others, cannot see the screen in broad daylight, so I don’t know if I am getting the nod to enter/exit unless I watch the boom which makes it a little more difficult.

I also think it would be an improvement if the lanes were made a bit wider coming in. Often the left lane used by visitors/contractors/deliveries backs up to block the right lane used by owners. If this change is made it will be about the fourth redesign of the Gate House layout. But we will get there in the end.     

The Vodacom deal is a great for owners. I cannot wait to ditch my Telkom ADSL line.  The sewer problem is a difficult issue. The Municipality seems clearly out of its depth, but that is hardly surprising - why should Knysna be any different? But why couldn’t we be a bit more like George?  They seem to have a far more efficient operation there. As an owner said, “Why can’t we get Vodacom to handle the sewerage too?”  

In the early years, the TI Development Company proposed to the Knysna Municipality that they build a sewer treatment plant on the Islands. They said “no”. They wanted the augmentation fees. These are fees paid by every development to the Municipality to increase capacity of the sewer, water, refuse operations, etc, to accommodate the increased number of houses.  Of course, these fees never seem to be used that way. They are used to pay salaries, operating expenses, etc. If we had our own sewer plant, we could use the grey water for our common gardens, like Belvidere Estate. 

In the end, the owners’ satisfaction with the current trustees was clear in the fact that there was no need for an election as no one stood to replace them.  This is the first time I can recall this happening. The trustees who were due to step down were therefore re-elected unopposed. 

How the island looked before Thesen Islands - 1998

Click on image to enlarge. This picture was taken by my brother, Gray, in 1998.  It is actually two pictures joined together. We had a large print on the wall in the Sale Centre and it was used in early marketing material and adverts.

The only areas of the island that were redeveloped where those areas that were inside the original sea wall built over many years. The sea wall turned the wetlands into dry areas.  The sea wall appeared that it was built in bits and pieces and had not been maintained for many years. See A and the red line which shows the old sea wall.  See B: Here the old sea wall had been breached and the lagoon had reclaimed the area inside the wall, turning it back into wetland. Therefore no development took place here. No development took place on wetlands.

When the Sales Center on the South side of the Boat Shed first opened in December 1998, we were not allowed onto the island. The factory, of course, was still functioning as it did for a a few more years. We were not welcomed with open arms by the upper management of Thesen and Co. This was understandable as we meant the end of their working life. After a number of months, we were reluctantly allowed onto the island but with strict instructions to stay clear of the working areas. This was not a problem as the first phase that we were selling was at the eastern end, Hammock, Jubilee Island, Ferry Island and the eastern side of Plantation Island.

We would drive out prospects in our cars which was an adventure as there were no roads, aside from a track here and there. At that stage there was no markers as to where this stands we were selling were but we had a good idea. I remember driving through waist high grass and telling perspective buyers, worried they we were about to end in a ditch, that we were now in the waterway heading out to the Ashmead channel. The grass bending past the side of the car gave the feeling of being in a very low boat with water at shoulder height.

This area of the island was not used by Thesen and Co, of course. But like a farmer with unlimited land, they use this area to dump various unwanted machinery, building rubble and anything that they did not know what to do with. The only trees were Wattle and it seemed absent of bird life aside from the gray herons in the southern part of what is now the bird reserve.   

The early buyers took a leap of faith by signing a contract depositing 20% of the purchase price into the attorney’s escrow account, although the sale agreement did state that if their stand was not transferred by certain date they were entitled to ask that their deposit and interest be refunded.

These buyers were critical to the redevelopment as Investec had set a requirement for a certain number of sales before they would commit to the funding of the project.