Plzeň wants to suspend the zoning proceedings for the construction of a shopping center

Plzeň - Plzeň city councilors today instructed Deputy Mayor Petr Runda (ODS) to try to suspend the zoning procedure for the planned construction of a giant building in the center of Plzeň until the results of the local referendum. This was announced by the regional court on Monday for January 11 and 12, after the city council rejected it. The city, as a participant in the zoning process, will send a statement to the construction authority, taking into account the results of the referendum, said city hall spokesperson Zdeňka Kubalová to ČTK. The city will insist on the conclusions of the working group regarding the project submitted by the investor in the zoning process.
     Activists, who have been trying for over a year to prevent the construction costing 2.5 billion crowns, stated in their statement today that the city no longer insists on the regulatory conditions approved by councilors last September and does not require the investor, Amádeus, to meet them. "The preparatory committee for the referendum found out that the activity of the working committee of architects and urban planners, which was supposed to enforce the regulatory conditions for the construction of the Corso Americká shopping center, has also ended without achieving this," said its representative Martin Marek. The committee was established to enforce the city's requirements after the architectural competition was canceled. The committee continues to work, the spokesperson said.
     "It has now clearly shown that the regulatory conditions, with which Deputy Runda and Mayor Martin Baxa (ODS) argued when canceling the architectural competition in March 2011, are not enforceable and binding for the investor," Marek stated. According to him, the city also does not require compliance with them in the zoning process, which was initiated this Monday when the court announced the referendum. The city's statement from July 31, which is part of the documentation for the zoning process, does not contain a single requirement regarding the appearance, proportions, or division of the construction of the giant commercial complex, which were approved by the council and upheld by the expert committee, he added.
     Citizen associations collected nearly 20,000 signatures for the referendum. Activists proposed two questions. The court decided that the referendum would only be about the first one, namely whether the city of Plzeň should immediately take all steps to prevent the construction of a giant building on the site of the demolished cultural center. The second question concerned changing the zoning plan of the ten-hectare area between the Radbuzou River, Americká Street, and Sirková Street from mixed-use to urban green space and park. The Czech development company Amádeus, with a foreign financier, wants to build Corso Americká, which will include shops, offices, apartments, and recreational spaces. They submitted a request for a zoning decision on August 6.