Containers from an illegal storage facility at a Lakeside church have been removed.
Mayoral committee member for spatial planning and environment Eddie Andrews said Metric Storage removed all the storage containers on Friday May 31.
About 120 containers arrived at the Riverview Church of Christ in December last year and January this year. Metric Storage’s owner, Dealtry Pickford, said he had needed to find a new site for them after he had been given notice and the premises where he had planned to relocate to had become unavailable (“Church’s ‘illegal’ containers must go, says City,” Echo, January 18).
Residents in the area quickly voiced their dissatisfaction, and the City served the church and Metric Storage with a non-compliance notice on December 18, giving them 30 days, until Friday January 19, to cease business activity and to remove the containers, which were not permitted under the property’s single-residential zoning.
The City sought a court interdict after Metric Storage and the Riverview Church of Christ failed to comply with the notice to remove the containers by January 19.
On Monday February 12, the Western Cape High Court interdicted Metric Storage and others from operating the storage facility on the property with immediate effect and from accessing the containers except for the retrieval of goods stored at the property. Customers had until Sunday March 31 to retrieve their goods.
Mr Andrews previously told the Echo that the sheriff of the court would seal off the storage containers on Tuesday April 2, and no one would be allowed to access the premises or containers, except for the removal of the containers.
Mr Andrews added that the City had sought another order from the Western Cape High Court on Thursday May 16 to have the containers removed and to stop all operations on the property by Friday May 31.
Mr Pickford said Metric Storage had complied with the court order and had all containers removed at the end of May.
He said he had relocated Metric Storage to a one-acre premises zoned for industrial use in Retreat.
“I took several months to find a suitable premises, and it came at a huge cost to the business,” he said, adding that the court order had required him to cancel all agreements he had with his clients.
