Liberec will return 3.5 million CZK due to the delay of the new zoning plan

Liberec - Liberec has to return an European grant of 3.5 million crowns, which it received for the preparation of a new zoning plan. It is not enough to approve it by the end of June next year, which was a condition for drawing the funds. The city will try to obtain another grant for the zoning plan from the related IROP program. CTK was informed today by the Deputy Mayor for Urban Planning Karolína Hrbková (Change for Liberec).

It is still unknown how much the city will apply for. "We have only calculated it roughly so far. Now we are negotiating what could be eligible costs. It should be a higher amount than the returned one, we estimate up to four million crowns," Hrbková stated. The city will submit the application by March next year. Liberec has already returned one grant in connection with the preparation of the zoning plan. It lost three million crowns because it failed to finish the concept on time.

The city hall has been working on creating the zoning plan since 2007, with the current validity expiring in 2020. According to the original schedule, the zoning plan was supposed to be approved last year. However, the city hall leadership that emerged from the municipal elections in 2014 decided to revise the previous proposal with the aim of approving it by the end of June 2017 at the latest. According to Hrbková, the new deadline is September 2017.

The opposition criticizes the coalition's approach. They describe it as erroneous, costly, and time-consuming, which has not brought anything effective. Hrbková is accused of halting work on the nearly finished zoning plan. "She grossly underestimated the complexity of creating the zoning plan and, by discarding an already completed plan and years of her predecessors' work, caused enormous delays and financial losses to the city," stated councilor Jan Marek (Mayors for the Liberec Region). Since October 2014, the city has spent over five million crowns in connection with the preparation of the zoning plan.

According to Hrbková, however, they had no other option in preparing the new zoning plan. "I don't think it would have been possible to issue it as it was prepared," she said. The city received about 700 comments and several dissenting opinions from state administration bodies regarding the new proposal. In the negotiation process, it was necessary to address the connection of the South Industrial Zone, the expansion of the busy intersection of Klášterní and Jablonecká streets in the center, or the use of areas in the active flood zone. The regional energy concept also had to be updated. The public will have one more opportunity to express their opinions on the zoning plan proposal. According to Hrbková, it will probably be in June next year.