Tussle over bridal biz

Selangor Times may 13 - 15, 2011 Issue 24

By Gan Pei Ling

PETAL ING JAYA :

Legalising SS2's unlicensed bridal shops could boost the industry here, but some residents are far from keen to see more wedding dresses in what was once their neighbours' homes.

Apart from the bridal galleries on Jalan SS2/24, the rest of the shops along three other main streets surrounding SS2’s commercial centre are unlicensed as they have yet to convert their residential land status into commercial use.

Councillor Tony Cheong is among advocates who want to see SS2, which has 30 such shops, galleries and studios, become a top bridal centre equalling Jalan Ipoh in Kuala Lumpur.

He has proposed to the mayor to legalise the shops by converting the three main streets into “limited commercial” areas under a special area plan of the PJ Local Plan.

“These houses are no longer suitable for residential use. The roads ( Jalan SS2/55, Jalan SS2/72 and Jalan SS2/75) are busy and there is a lot of noise and dust pollution,”said Cheong.

He added that an ongoing survey conducted by the Town Planning Department since April revealed that most property owners do not stay in the houses, but rent them out to residential or commercial tenants.

“The landlords enjoy higher rental rates if they lease the houses to business tenants,” Cheong said. Cheong said since it would take a few years to convert the land status of the three main streets from residential to limited commercial,

MBPJ should issue temporary business permits to the shopowners so that they can continue operating during the legal process.

He said usually the landlord must convert the property to commercial before the business operator can apply and secure a business licence. Cheong noted that it had taken around two years for the city council to change the street’s status of SS2/24 in the local plan in 2008 to “limited commercial”.

The process may be delayed further should there be opposition from SS2 residents. Currently, property owners could face a fine of between RM10,000 and RM15,000 for renting out residential units for commercial use.

On the other hand, the business operators can face action for illegal trading, advertising or obstructing five-foot ways.

The city council had issued 65 compounds involving the three offences as of April 30, MBPJ public relation officer Zainon Zakaria told Selangor Times.

She said each compound costs the shop owners RM250. Some owners admitted that they would rather pay MBPJ officers a token amount of duit kopi rather than being fined repeatedly.

The bridal houses are not the only ones involved. Other businesses like clinics, florists and furniture stores that have emerged along the residential premises during the past few years have also suffer the same fate.

Most operators welcome Cheong’s proposal to legalise their businesses and hoped the process could be sped up.

However, SS2 Utara Residents’ Association chairperson Magirin Haron is concerned with worsening traffic conditions as more businesses spring up.

“How are they going to accommodate the customers? Will they provide more parking spaces? If not, the customers will come and park in our area,” said Magirin. He said customers from Jalan SS2/75 would often park their cars on Jalan SS2/80, which is a residential area.

He agreed that the houses are no longer suitable for residential use, but stressed that the city council must provide a solution to their parking woes as SS2 becomes increasingly developed.

A long-time resident of SS2 expressed concern that the move would open the floodgates.

The retiree pointed out that SS2 already had its commercial centre, and businesses should be kept separate from homes.

"This is a residential area, and we don't want more businesses to disrupt our quality of life," he said.

But Rukun Tetangga SS2B chairperson Lee Kwee Cheng said it would not make much of a difference as the bridal houses would not attract much traffic.

"The houses are changed to limited commercial status only … Some of the owners are just waiting for the right buyer to sell [their houses]," said Lee.