Brno showed interest in taking over the sand pit from Černovice, there was a police raid there
The city of Brno has expressed interest in taking over the sand pit from the Černovice district, where the police intervened last week. Brno Mayor Markéta Vaňková (ODS) told journalists about the interest on Tuesday. She discussed the situation with the mayor of Černovice, Petra Quttová (STAN), with whom she will continue to discuss.
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Černovická sand pit in Brno.
| Photo: Photo: Jan Sychra
The city owns a large part of the land in the sand pit, some is owned by private individuals. The city would like to at least partially preserve the activity, but is thinking about the future in the given locality about building a park. It is not yet clear how the city will take over the sand pit and what Černovice would get for it. Annual income from the sand pit is in the order of millions of crowns.
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Last week, the police intervened in several places in Brno, namely at the municipality in the housing department, in the office of outgoing deputy mayor and candidate for environment minister Petr Hladík (KDU-ČSL), but also at the Brno-north town halls and in Černovice and in the sand pit. She also interfered with one of the managers of the sand factory, Jiří Hasoně (KDU-ČSL), who, according to the information of the People’s Secretary of the City of Brno, is under arrest. The police charged seven people and two companies for the privatization of city apartments and for activities connected to one of the city companies. According to the media, an organized group wanted to control the sandbox.
Vaňková stated that the takeover of the sand pit had already been discussed before, but the current situation accelerated everything. In the sand pit, there were two representatives of the municipality on the supervisory board. “However, I had no information about criminal activity,” said Vaňková.
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According to her, the city has been preparing the reclamation of the area for a long time. “We are preparing a large park there. Most of the land is owned by Brno and it gives us logic that the city of Brno will take care of the area in the future. At the moment, the activity is different, but now it would be more appropriate if the activities fell under the city,” said Vaňková. According to her, it is not typical for a part of the city to establish its own company. “It is relatively unique and it is more logical for the company to fall directly under by the city,” said Vaňková. The city would like to continue some of the activities, but it should gradually lead to the creation of a park there.
The time horizon for the takeover by the city is not given. “We only agreed with the mayor that the interest of the city would be there, she was also in favor of it. But we will meet and work out the details. Legally, it won’t be easy. We don’t know whether a new municipal company would be created or whether we would be able to take care of the given location and given activities as a legal form, that will all be subject to negotiation,” said Vaňková.