Uhříněves wants to change the zoning plan due to speculators

Prague - The Prague district of Uhříněves is seeking a change in the zoning plan that would significantly reduce the price of ten plots of land that the State Farm Jeneč improperly transferred to speculators last year as part of restitution claims. This was reported today by the news portal Aktuálně.cz. The parcels worth one hundred million crowns would no longer be designated for construction but for greenery, such as a park. The proposal for a change in the zoning plan was approved by the city district council on Wednesday.
    "It will not be possible to build anything on them. Not only the originally intended housing but also industrial buildings like warehouses. The value of the plots would then, with some exaggeration, be equal to zero for the owners," said the mayor of Uhříněves, Milan Coller (ODS), to the portal.
    The proposal will be decided by the Prague City Hall, and according to the portal, the chances of success for Uhříněves are relatively high. The properties, covering an area of 1.65 hectares, were issued improperly and in violation of all regulations, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, which founded the Jeneč farm. A lawsuit to annul the entire operation and a criminal report have already been filed due to the transfer.
    Lawyers contacted by Aktuálně.cz urge caution. According to them, it is essential to ensure that municipalities do not use zoning changes to resolve disputes with inconvenient entrepreneurs and discriminate against them.
    Jiří Wolf, a spokesman for the city hall, also does not want to pre-empt the decision of his office. "Every such change undergoes detailed analysis, various departments express their opinions, so at this moment, it is definitely not possible to say how it will turn out," he stated. Wolf ruled out settling any accounts through changes in the zoning plan; he noted that such proposals are discussed publicly.
    Uhříněves is attempting to utilize the zoning plan change for the second time. The first time was in the case of plots worth more than 1.5 billion crowns, which were issued to speculators under a so-called extraordinary regime by the Land Fund two years ago. The then-Minister of Agriculture, Petr Zgarba, had to resign, but the transfer met all requirements due to the extraordinary regime, so the chances of changing the zoning plan in this case are lower for Uhříněves.
    "In this case, we expect that the final decision could be made as early as this fall," said Uhříněves' deputy mayor, Langmajer, to Aktuálně.cz. A large majority of these plots were acquired by entrepreneur Gabriel Večeřa.