Plzeň has a new urban plan, which will replace the previous one from 1995

Plzeň - Plzeň has a new zoning plan - the most important city document that determines the strategy for the city's development for many years. It was approved today by the councilors after several years of preparation. The new plan replaces the current document from 1995, with the last update in 2010. The Building Act mandates the adoption of a new zoning plan by the end of 2020, said Deputy Mayor Pavel Šindelář (ODS) to the council today.

The zoning plan was approved with 27 votes from coalition councilors from ČSSD, ODS, KDU-ČSL, and Citizens' Patriots and opposition communists. Four members of TOP 09 voted against, and eight councilors from ANO abstained from the vote.

A new feature of the zoning plan compared to the previous one is, for example, the spatial regulation of buildings, said architect Irena Králová. The document also emphasizes that new structures of different sizes should not be built next to each other. For the first time, according to her, the document defines unbuildable areas of urban greenery and unbuildable areas of public spaces. Among the most fundamental innovations is the effort to complete the wider city center, rather than the growth of satellites around central Plzeň, Šindelář stated.

According to him, the zoning plan also creates locations, larger territorial units, which require the preparation of a territorial study. Only after its approval will it be possible for an investor to build in that area. "We want the power to regulate construction, especially in the center," he explained.

The zoning plan includes communications, some of which are the reason for disagreements between the opposition and the coalition in the council. "Of course, transportation constructions are included in the zoning plan - I/20 connecting to Studentská. Perhaps a somewhat controversial construction I/27, which should connect Karlovarská, Přemyslová, and subsequently Sukova and Borská, we leave in the zoning plan for the future road system Roudná," listed Šindelář. In response to objections from Michal Vozobule of the opposition TOP 09 regarding some communications, he stated that the priority is the completion of the western bypass and road I/20, and only after that will the city have to evaluate the traffic demands of the Northern Suburb and decide whether further connection of this area with the center is necessary.

The legal representative of the Amadeus group, which is suing the city over the failure to carry out the construction of a shopping center on Americká Avenue, spoke against the adoption of the new zoning plan. "The adoption of the zoning plan in its proposed form unfortunately means that the gap left by the former Inwest cultural center will continue to mar the heart of Plzeň," he said. According to him, the zoning plan contains contradictions and ambiguities in land use. The proposed document was also disliked by some citizens from Košutka. They particularly objected that the zoning plan would allow for even denser construction in an already built-up housing estate at the expense of green spaces and public areas. According to Šindelář, around 250 comments were received during the discussion of the zoning plan, some of which were addressed and incorporated into the zoning plan, while others were rejected.

Questions about the protection of the Bezovka area from inappropriate construction and the proposal of routes for new communications were frequently repeated. The largest number of objections were requests for the expansion of additional areas for construction.