Closure of farm strips

[Stan]

RV4ker
They try make one law to cover all eventualities??? There are a lot of people who try to use the legislation to get to neighbours who they do not like but they have to have a valid reason to complain. If you build an airfield with the threshold next to his house, that is a problem. If you are far from his place, then his problems are not yours. The EIA staff are aware of this situation and judge them by merit. The aim of the legislation is to stop you trashing the last habitat of the Brenton Blue butterfly or building a sewerage farm on dolomites or some such problem. In Gauteng there are major problems with uncontrolled devlopments, mine acid water drainage, etc. and this is starting to roll out into other problems.

I agree that you should not be hasseled about a 800m grass strip on your farm. I would just do some bush control along an existing straight piece of road and use that for a runway. While I was staying at Zebediela years ago, I flew my microlight off a n old overgrazed fallow land. It could not be called a runway by ay stretch of the imagination, but it worked.

Cheers
Stan

[RV4ker (RIP)]

Stan
Agreed. In Gauteng I have seen the "ring pulling" going on. I do not envy you at all. Tough job, but many are not aware of the legislation or how to deal with it. Costs brandied around are R350K for EIA. That for a rural farm strip is ridiculous. Surely there must be some guidelines. A website link for some self study would help. Maybe we can get some positives out of this thread..... Maybe you could shed some light on how joe public (me for eg) goes about doing an EIA (& even if it is at all possible).



PS
My problems are with the consultants milking the legislation to make a quick buck. I have a deathly fear of con$ultant$ and when I come across "most" of them I always get the uncomfortable feeling that Vaseline will be required..... Nothing personal against consultants I have just been involved in too many projects where they get their bucks first and the project never gets off the ground.

[Brian Young]

Hi All,
Stan I dont know how you involved with the enviromental people, but I have spoken to a Advocate friend of mine, and first there is a lot of problems with the law at the moment as a lot of the old laws of SA are still in effect they where never deleted or taken out of the system when new laws where made so now you have two or three sets of law all current at the same time?? its a mess , a special team of Advocates and Attorneys have been contracted by the justice dept to correct this problem and scrap the old laws where possible, the present act on enviro issues is very vague and will not stand up in a court of law this meens you cant make roads on your farm and you may not biuld a shed to house your tractor not to mention the constitutional laws if the CAA dosent do somthing soon about this problem i see a lot of law suits pending. Can you see all the upmarket game lodges that dont have tarr runways taking this crap lying down, the first law siut against the minister and this law is scraped.

[Tumbleweed]

RV4ker,

Your insight into the policy/ politics / implementation of these issues is too valuable to the 'collective 'flying community' to just remain a bystander.

I think. and I'm sure many will agree with me. that you show suitable qualification / eloquence and enthusiasm to better serve your flying comrades by 'stepping up to the plate" as it were and go the whole hog to share with us who would love to assist you, but can't, all those graphic 'ring pulling' moments and 'Vaseline induced' experiences.

[RV4ker (RIP)]

I think. and I'm sure many will agree with me. that you show suitable qualification / eloquence and enthusiasm to better serve your flying comrades by 'stepping up to the plate" as it were and go the whole hog to share with us who would love to assist you, but can't, all those graphic 'ring pulling' moments and 'Vaseline induced' experiences.

just thinking about it make me

[Stan]

RV4ker

The money you quoted is probably for a full EIA for a housing estate or some other major development with high impacts. I would suggest that you get a "small" consultant to handle it for you. I would imagine that it should not cost you more than R30 000 if there are no issues that need to be addressed. This is a thumb suck figure. Unfortunately you cant do it yourself, but need to get an unbiased consultant to do it for you.

Where about is your place and what does the area look like where you would want to put in the field? I could probably give you an idea what would be involved and maybe even a few names of consultants.

Brian

I work for the provincial conservation department in Limpopo and I do not see that the law is so mixed up. There are basically three national environmental acts that we work with. NEMA seems to be in the process of phasing out ECA. The switching over is staggered to give time to promulgate regulations in terms of the various sections of NEMA. The listing that we have been discussing here are in terms of Sections 24 and 24D of NEMA. Previous to these regulations, a person at the conservation office decided when a full EIA was called for and when a scoping would be satisfactory. They have now set thresholds where it is spelt out what goes where. This was to reduce the "vaseline" situation that RV4ker was talking about.

You could challange the law in court but it is going cost bundles of money and a lot of time. The environmental law does not supercede any aviation laws or the other way round. Aviation laws are there to improve air safety and do not worry about the environment. The environmental law concerns the natural environment and any impacts on it. The two should complement each other. The laws that do clash to a certain extent are forestry, water, agriculture and the environmental. There is a certain overlap in responsibilities which occasionally causes trouble.

I will try to get a list of requirements for a basic assesment and post it here.

Cheers for now

Stan

[RV4ker (RIP)]

Stan
Thanks for info. I think you on a hiding to nothing on here as most flyers would be anti EIA as it potentially threatens (or significantly increases costs) associated with our chosen sport, but keep posting please. R30K is still too much in my book (especially if you consider a second hand Windlass for R40K to land on your new improved R30K EIA runway).

PS
We operate off pvt "roads" / fire breaks or pans similarly to what you suggested above (ie we do not have a runway per se). I was just interested in the whole concept and how it would affect me should I decide to move back to plaas in which case I would want 2 erect a hangar and proper strip for all the toys. It now seems this will be more work than simply pulling a couple tractor tires across the pan, then putting the old road skraaper in and planting a windsock as planned.

[Rocketman]

Hi Stan I hear what you say but just imagine trying to close down some of the bigger micro schools, skyriders, ballito light flight but to mention a few, and put a lot of people out of work and take away there livelyhood after many years of opperating where they are? do you think they will take this laying down the bundle of money you talk of will not be a issue and one could delay this matter in the constitutional court ( one has the right to earn a living) for a lifetime
Remember there are over 3500 private strips in SA there is a lot of money avalible for a court case. they should consintrate there efforts in sorting out problems such as Loskop dam, power station polutions, mines and othe more sereouse issue that effect tens of thousands of poeple, a farm strip has never harmed any man or beast they must get there priorities right.

[Boet]

It is just one of those unworkable hare-brained schemes coocked up to keep our minds occopied so we will not see all the other f...-ups. IE : Farm murders, Car hijacks, burglars, etc etc. ( List is too long for my limited typing skills?) Before all this has not been properly tended to. I will tell who-ever just to muck-off.

[Arnulf]

they should consintrate there efforts in sorting out problems such as Loskop dam, power station polutions, mines and othe more sereouse issue that effect tens of thousands of poeple, a farm strip has never harmed any man or beast they must get there priorities right.

Why should they. Sorting out the serious problems is tedious, difficult, and possibly you need some knowledge. Public servants will always keep themselves busy with stuff at the level they undestand. Much easier to keep yourself busy with the simple things. Just stand on the b@lls of one farmer hard enough, shut down his strip, easy. Tell your boss about how successful you are, get positive merits, get promotion etc etc. Loskop dam, power stations, Eish, too difficult. don't understand, eish, don't touch.

Regards
Arnulf

[Stan]

Hi All

I very much doubt that they will try to close down any existing fields because you are innocent until proven guilty and they have to prove that you "built" the runway recently. Most of the big schools have been operating since before any restrictive legislation and also operate from established airfields. If I was told to prosecute someone with this bull, I would look if the development was recent and if not, tell the boss to do it himself as this would not stand up in court.

If I wanted to establish a strip for microlights on my farm (I wish) I would use other activities listed in the regs R386 to bypass the problem. Activity 1(e) indicates that lawns, etc. less than 3 hectares are not listed. I would establish a lawn less than 3 hactares in front of my house where it would be possible to land my microlight. My motor garage next to the house would just be big enough to accommodate my microlight as well. As far as I can make out this is also not listed. (I get a half hour lecture for each question I ask in the EIA office so I am afraid to ask too many questions at any time. ) Before doing this though get a legal opinion as I dont know all the answers the "prokerowers" might come up with to this suggestion. The other option is to apply for an exemption from the process but this can also cost some bucks.

I have a copy of the form for a basic assessment but it is thirty pages long. Could someone explain how to make one of those boxes to have such a document with a click to download button.

Just a comment on the law enforcement. We are not mandated to combat normal crime, otherwise I would lay into my pet hate of people driving like A$$holes and endangering all the other motorists on the roads. Our law enforcement section only attends to environmental "crime".

[RV4ker (RIP)]

Stan
Email me the document or the url where it is on the net and I stick it on here for you. george @ gbfs . co . za

Thanks once again for the reply's.

[Slabfish]

Thanks for all the "moeite" Stan . It seem like a lot of positive reaction and very helpful information coming out of this post . After all that's what the forum is for , us aviators looking out for each other

[RV4ker (RIP)]

Document from Stan...

http://www.2shared.com/file/2345570/b13 ... _2006.html

http://www.mediafire.com/?fmydtooimym

Download the file. Word document.

[Aeropark]

Hi

I just went through the exercise of doing an EIS for a runway with hangers that I intend building on the Bapsfontein Bronkhorstspruit road (App R170 000 later). I applied at DACE to be exempted from a full EIS but was informed that since a runway is a listed item I have no choice but to go for the full monty. Also, the act stipulates that all existing runways must apply for permission from DACE by doing an EIS. Part of this study was an agricultural, a bird, noise and a traffic impact study. Also, the local authority had to rezone the property in question from agriculture to commercial.