The chief architect of Ostrava did not falsify the land use plan, according to the court

Ostrava - The chief architect of the city of Ostrava, Jaroslav Sedlecký, did not falsify the urban plan for the development of the Karolina area in the city center. The regional court in Ostrava acquitted him at the end of October of charges that he illegally influenced the preparation of a developer competition. This was confirmed today by court spokesperson Sabina Mudříková. The court thus ended a long-standing dispute between the city and a group of Czech and Polish architects who won an international architectural competition for Nová Karolina seven years ago.
    The city abandoned the winning proposal from the architects and announced a developer competition, which was won by the company Multi Development. At the instigation of the architects, Sedlecký was accused of forging the urban plan during the developer competition, but both the district and regional courts in Ostrava acquitted him of the charges. "For me, this is a satisfaction. It always pleases a person when common sense prevails over purposeful malice," the architect told ČTK today.
    In January, Sedlecký also won against the Czech Chamber of Architects (ČKA), which accused him of illegal intervention in the urban plan. The Chamber considers the entire developer competition for the redevelopment of the former coke plant to be irregular. They primarily disagree with the fact that the city canceled the international architectural competition and did not act in accordance with the law on public contracts, said Markéta Pražanová to ČTK.
    The decision of the regional court did not surprise architect Karel Cieslar, one of the authors of the original architectural design and a member of OS Karolina. "It was to be expected that the courts would take into account the January decision of the professional court as the opinion of experts, who unfortunately do not mind that someone devalued the results of the international competition," the architect told ČTK. He added that the ČKA recommended that he open the entire matter and submit it again to the professional court.
    "I am not aware of any recommendation; the Chamber issued no official statement to Mr. Cieslar. If he submits the entire matter again to the professional court, any new facts will have to be examined," said ČTK chairman of the ČKA Dalibor Borák. The Chamber of Architects already wanted the Office for the Protection of Competition in the spring to review the actions of the Ostrava City Hall in the developer competition. However, the Office considered their proposal to be unfounded.
    The company Multi Development is currently designing the first phase of the regeneration of the former coke plant. On an area seven times larger than Prague’s Wenceslas Square, a center with shops and entertainment, office buildings, a building with two hundred apartments, and spaces for social and sports activities should be completed by 2010. The company plans to invest approximately 15 billion crowns into the construction.