GALLERY: Scrap yard in Bordeaux given notice
BODEAUX – Cash for Scrap is closing up shop after allegations of it being illegal arise.
A scrapyard allegedly operating illegally in Bordeaux has been given notice to vacate by the end of November. Bordeaux North Community Forum chairperson Shanaaz Bailey said that she received complaints from residents in the area about how Cash for Scrap in June Avenue, which had been operating since May, brought rats to the area, increased pollution in the area, gave the area a bad smell, decreased property value, and most importantly – was an industrial business operating in a residential area without the property rights to do so.
She visited the scrap yard and confronted its manager Dirk Engelbrecht, who explained that as far as he was aware, the scrap yard’s property managers, TUPA Real Estate, followed the correct channels and the scrap yard was legal. He also pointed out an acknowledgement of receipt of application for registration as a second-hand goods dealer / recycler document that the SAPS had supplied the business with.
Bailey however, claimed that as the forum’s chairperson and a real estate agent herself, she knew for sure that the property was zoned for residential use only. “There are zones for businesses with a dwelling but you would have to apply with Town Planning and with each application, the suburb’s resident’s association would be notified. We received no notification.”
Engelbrecht then responded that he could not say for sure if the scrap yard was legal, and one would have to check with TUPA Real Estate. When the company’s commercial manager Kobus van Wyk was contacted regarding the legality of the scrap yard, he merely responded, “We have given the tenant notice to vacate by end November.”
At the time of going to print, Ward 102 Councillor David Potter could not confirm whether the scrap yard was legal. He said that businesses often operate from properties where no zoning for them are in place, and, “Bordeaux is primarily a residential area and this is the way it should remain. Residents’ property values are often of critical importance, and the City and property owners need to be cognisant of this fact when issuing business zoning or enforcing the relevant illegal use bylaws the City has in place.”
Details: Cash for Scrap, 071 755 3791; Bordeaux North Community Forum, 082 393 2477; TUPA Real Estate, 011 435 6210.
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