The preparation of the new zoning plan for Liberec has encountered further delays

Liberec - The preparation of the zoning plan for Liberec has encountered further delays. The reason is the negotiation proceedings with the regional office and other affected authorities. The city will have the new zoning plan at the earliest in October 2017. This was stated to ČTK by the Deputy Mayor Karolína Hrbková (Change for Liberec).

The municipality has been working on the creation of the zoning plan since 2007, and the validity of the current one will expire in 2020. According to the original schedule, the zoning plan was supposed to be approved last year. However, the leadership of the municipality that emerged from the municipal elections in 2014 decided to revise the previous proposal with the aim of approving it by no later than the end of June 2017. However, this will not happen due to the negotiation proceedings.

According to Hrbková, under a standard process, the councilors would receive the zoning plan for approval in March or April 2018. Therefore, the city leadership decided that Hrbková would prepare a variant with a faster procedure. "We need to change some procedures at the municipal office so that we can make the most of the time available for creating the zoning plan," said Hrbková. The faster variant still needs to be finalized. It should allow for the approval of the zoning plan in the autumn of next year.

In the negotiation proceedings, according to Hrbková, the method for connecting the Jih industrial zone, the expansion of the busy intersection of Klášterní and Jablonecká streets in the center, and the use of areas in the active flood zone were discussed. The territorial energy concept also needed updating.

The opposition criticizes the preparation of the zoning plan, not only due to the length of the discussion. They point out a lack of available areas for industry. According to standards, Liberec should have at least 800 hectares available, but the proposal counts on 500 hectares. The municipality argues that the intended development areas on the outskirts of the city had to give way to environmental protection, for example, in Machnín. "Unfortunately, we encountered disagreement from the affected authorities. The matter would have to be resolved by the ministry after an appeal, and that is a long haul," said Hrbková earlier. The opposition is also unhappy that some industrial areas are in places designated for housing, for example, in Karlinky or Růžodol. They also disagree that compared to the previous proposal, there are fewer areas for housing, especially for the construction of family houses.

The public will have one more opportunity to comment on the zoning plan, which will address the development of the hundred-thousand-strong city over the next 20 to 30 years. The municipality originally expected this to happen this year. However, due to the delays, according to Hrbková, it will most likely be in June next year.