Prague against the ministry. The zoning plan divides the Pirates
This week, Prague councilors objected to a draft decree sent by the Ministry of Regional Development to an inter-ministerial comment procedure, which should apply from 1 July. According to them, it would block construction in the metropolis and other large cities.
“It would mean a deepening crisis in affordable housing, the impossibility of building city apartments and the impossibility of unblocking brownfields,” the councilors said in a resolution. Deputy Mayor and Councilor for Territorial Development Petr Hlaváček (for TOP 09) warned of “catastrophic consequences”, as the decree put a stop to new changes in the current zoning plan, and would even have to rework the Metropolitan Plan, which is now being finalized.
“The incurred administrative costs in Prague would reach approximately 150 million crowns, the economic impacts would be several orders of magnitude higher. Due to the regulation of the Ministry of Regional Development, housing construction, the continuation of the metro line, the bridge over the Vltava River, but also, for example, the Vlček palliative care children’s hospice will be blocked, ”warns Ondřej Boháč, director of the Prague Institute of Planning and Development.
Tomato is not a strawberry
The proposed decree is related to digital in construction, with which the new building law and the inclusion of obligations generally have a political consensus. The dispute revolves around the National Spatial Planning Geoportal, which is to uniformly collect data on the entire territory, including the capital.
“The Ministry of Regional Development is confusing data with a unified graphic legend,” the councilors stated in their resolution. And to make it easier to understand, they add an example: “The ministry is focusing on whether the matter is red, not on whether it is a tomato or a strawberry. will be a National Geoport full of meaningless data about the territory. It will be possible to light the same ‘red’ across the Czech Republic, but it will not contain uniform information about the use of the territory or its capacities. “
Prague expects big changes in the coming years:
Critics, including Brno, Ostrava, Pilsen and Liberec, point out that in large cities it is not possible to insist on zoning plans drawn to the last square meter. “The detail of the plans, which operates in small towns, is not applicable in metropolitan areas with enormous pressure per meter and a high level of public and private interests. And if so, the result that blocks development, “Boháč.
Digitization in 2024
The reservations also relate to the fact that the decree is due to come into force in July this year, when it is a year later after the launch of the National Geoportal. “Until then, it is not necessary to require processing in a uniform format, because there is no one to whom to pass the data. At the moment when there is an amendment in the Chamber of Deputies to further postpone digitization to 2024, the deadline of 1 July 2022 is unnecessary, “argue Prague councilors.
The proposal also raised concerns within development companies. The planning of their projects has already been considerably uncertain by the amendment to the barely approved Building Act, which the Ministry of Regional Development has now sent to the inter-ministerial comment procedure. “The need to revise the Metropolitan Plan as well would be another blow in the series,” says Rudolf Vacek, Penta Real Estate’s director of development.
“We could have had some stability in that the new building law would come into force. But the state said I threw a pitchfork there. So we don’t really know anything, “sighed the owner of the development company Trigema, Marcel Soural.
Relief for officials
The Ministry of Regional Development argues that the new decree is part of a package of changes in building law and will provide officials with a better overview and easier decision-making. The previous management of the department has already taken into account the uniform graphic similarity of data on all territories.
“The current practice, where there is no uniform standard content and graphical representation, increased the dose when using land use planning documentation. The individual concept of individual documents makes legibility more difficult and reduces the efficiency of the work of officials, “argues the Ministry of Regional Development.
According to the Deputy Mayor of Ostrava, Zuzana Bajgarová (YES), the intention is a step backwards: “Unified standardization in spatial planning will very quickly cause changes to spatial plans to stop, for many months to years. In practice, it will mean the lack of clarity and dysfunction of land use plans, ie the exact opposite of what is a repeated demand of the government and their efforts to simplify and speed up in the form of digitization. “