Prague 5 has changed the rules for contributions from developers, they have to pay more
Contributions rose by 40 percent to 1,400 crowns per square meter for projects that chose to change the zoning plan, and 700 crowns for others. The city is preparing similar rules with an even higher rate, the council today, at the suggestion of the opposition, commissioned the council to prepare a new update copying city-wide parameters after its approval.
“New construction, especially further investments of the city district in infrastructure in schools, where the prices of construction works have risen recently,” said the city councilor Zdeněk Doležal. He added that the update is also necessary due to some vague wording in the original rules, which complicates negotiations with developers. The original rules of Prague 5 were approved in April 2018.
Some opposition representatives criticized the adjustment of the rules before the approval of those prepared by the municipality at the Prague-wide level. “The material before us has not been discussed in the committees of the city district and is currently outperforming the material published by the capital city of Prague in March of this year, which is just about to be approved,” said Adam Rut.
His party colleague Milan Kryl added that after negotiations with developers, the city reached a consensus on higher contributions than required by the city district. According to Prague-wide rules, according to him, companies will contribute 2,300 crowns for projects with a necessary change in the zoning plan, and 700 crowns for the others. “The proposal is lower than the developers themselves suggest,” he said, adding that the rules should be the same throughout the metropolis.
Doležal said that the update is needed now. However, he agreed with the amendment proposed by Kryl, according to which within 60 days after the approval of the city-wide rules by the Prague management, the city district will submit another update copying the city rules. On the contrary, Rut’s proposal to add some form of motivation for developers to build houses with low energy intensity and other parameters responding to climate change was not approved in the document.
Today, the deputies also approved support for a change in the zoning plan for the project on the site of the former Radlické mlékárny, where Smíchov Real Estate plans to build. According to Doležal, the town hall has already agreed with the investor on a financial contribution in accordance with the rules.
The city district cannot force investors to make similar contributions by law, so concluding an agreement presupposes willingness on both sides. However, a number of similar agreements already exist and investors are often reluctant to co-finance public facilities for their projects. According to the Prague 5 website, the city district has already concluded almost thirty similar agreements. These first take the form of memoranda, which are then followed by an agreement between the town hall and the development. The city district undertakes in the agreements that, if the pre-set conditions are met by the investor, it will not raise objections and other legal instruments in the preparation and permitting of constructions, which could complicate the project.