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A LARGE historical landmark in Constantia, the Glen Dirk Estate, is set to be partially subdivided into residential properties if the current application for rezoning and subdivision is approved.

Owned by the Menell Family Trust since 1948, Glen Dirk Estate is a 55 ha property to the west of the M3, just off Klaasens Road in Constantia. It borders the Chart Farm on the east side and the Alphen part of Constantia on the west and south sides.

Approximately 60% of the estate is under vines with the remaining area largely covered by exotic trees and uncultivated bush and scrub.

The two large houses on the property are of specific interest, as they were designed around the turn of the previous century by Sir Herbert Baker.

An application for rezoning and subdivision of the land has now been handed in to the South Peninsula Administrationates. The application is to subdivide various portions of the property in order to create eight portions and a remainder, as well as to rezone the proposed new portions from rural to single residential.

The plots will be a sunstantial 6 500m² in size, save one portion, which is 4 835m² in extent.

As motivation it is explained that "the viability of Glen Dirk is becoming increasingly challenging, given the marginal nature of its vineyards and the large, unproductive extent of the remainder of the property that includes its historical buildings and their settings, all of which have high maintenance demands".

The application is, however, complicated by the fact that the Constantia Valley is earmarked as a possible World Heritage Site.

According to the Constantia Valley Association, the Cape winelands cultural landscape, including the Constantia Valley, was one of the nine candidates for World Heritage Site status that South Africa submitted to UNESCO in 2001.

A Notification of Intent to Develop (NID) must therefore be submitted to Heritage Western Cape before any changes to the status of a property such as Glen Dirk Estate can be made. This will enable Heritage Western Cape to decide whether a Heritage Impact Assessment will be required.

Another consideration is the apparent damage to the Constantia Valley character due to burgeoning development.

According to the Constantia Valley website, the unique and special cultural landscape of the Constantia Valley that took more than three centuries to create is under threat. "In a period of less than 30 years, the character of the area has been changing with the development of high density cluster housing against mountain slopes and on remaining open land, relentless consolidation and sub-division of existing properties and insensitive treatment of streetscapes."

However, the developers are of the opinion that the impact of the development on the heritage values of the property will be "minimal to none", specifically in terms of aesthetic impact.

These are regarded as the prime considerations for this property.

This was reiterated by Brian Menell, one of the directors of Glen Dirk Estate.

He declined to comment on the possible World Heritage Site status of the estate. Menell said the motivation behind subdividing the property was to generate funds to manage the farm. He added that they aim to preserve the farm and keep it intact as far as possible.

The Constantia Property Owners? Association declined to give an opinion on the proposed development until an official meeting about it has been called.

Questions sent to Heritage Western Cape remained unanswered at the time of print. The application is open to inspection at the office of the City of Cape Town, South Peninsula region, in Victoria Road, Plumstead.

Objections must be lodged in writing at the office on or before 28 April.

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