Plzeň has a strategy for revitalizing the center; it wants to calm and beautify the streets

Plzeň - With the calming of streets, new greenery and buildings, and better use of public spaces, the strategy for revitalizing the center of Plzeň was approved by the city council today. The document, which was developed over two years by the department of concept and development and also drew from surveys among people, proposes measures that will make the area more attractive for residents and visitors, Mayor Martin Baxa (ODS) told reporters.
    "We want to revitalize the center as much as possible. For each street or area, a recipe has been prepared for what will be done there," he added. This involves a development strategy and adjustments to greenery and public spaces, an urban-architectural concept, and mainly the calming of traffic. It will require a new parking system which has not yet been approved today.
    The new regime, which considers increasing parking fees and extending paid parking to other areas, aims to allow better parking for residents and visitors to the center for the necessary duration. It intends to maximize the use of the Rychtářka parking garage. The organization of traffic in the central area will undergo a systematic solution, which will be approved this year, Baxa added.
    "The situations in the districts are different," said Deputy for Transport Miloslav Šimák (ČSSD). The first city district, for example, is advocating for the expansion of paid parking in Roudná near the center so that residents have a place. On the other hand, the third district, which includes the city center, disagrees with this.
    After calming Martin's and American Boulevard, a pedestrian zone will be created this year in Riegrova Street, while Veleslavínova, Sedláčkova, and Perlová are expected in the coming years. The city hall wants as many bike lanes as possible along the rivers.
    "Everything will depend on the financial capabilities of the city," said Economic Deputy Martin Zrzavecký (ČSSD). If all proposed interventions, including architectural ones, were implemented, the city hall would have to spend billions of crowns. The strategy will unify the procedures of all offices, which will detail it within a few months. According to Zrzavecký, the city will also invite private property owners to negotiate so that the city hall does not take steps that would restrict entrepreneurs to the extent that they would leave the center.
    The mayor stated that a significant step that will be part of the revitalization of the wider center of Plzeň is the announcement of an ideological urban study of the city center, which will be the basis for a new zoning plan.
    According to Zrzavecký, the strategy must also include the concept of public transport, either its preservation or reduction. Subsidies to the transport company are expected to increase from the current three-quarters of a billion to one billion crowns by 2020. The city must decide whether it will have the funds for this, he added.