Prachatice approved the zoning plan, offering 56 hectares for housing

Prachatice - After a four-hour discussion, the representatives of Prachatice approved a new zoning plan today. It allocates an area of 56 hectares for new apartments and houses, and the industrial zone will be expanded. This was stated by Mayor Martin Malý (Independents) to ČTK. The discussion mainly revolved around the fact that the zoning plan did not meet the requests of some people regarding building houses.

The plan has been in process for almost eight years; the previous one was valid for 23 years. Eleven representatives voted in favor, none against, and six abstained. The new zoning plan, for which the municipality paid 1.9 million crowns for its preparation, designates 56 hectares for apartments and houses, 22.4 hectares of which are owned by the city.

"It’s like 2500 new citizens moving into the city, a really large portion of land designated for development. The plan also considers smaller areas and the development of settlements," said Mayor Malý. The industrial zone on Krumlovská street can also be expanded by more than six hectares. "This means a relatively large development for the city. We filled a ten-hectare industrial zone over 15 years, and we still have three-quarters of a hectare left," Malý added.

Thanks to the plan, the shooting range will also be relocated, as residents living next to it have complained that the noise has caused their properties to lose value. The plan also includes a downhill skiing area at Libínské Sedlo. However, this bothers Jan Machala, whose land will be affected. He has written to the municipality requesting that the ski slope does not end above his house, and he is also concerned about the creation of a hectare-sized parking lot. "I have been dealing with the municipality for ten years. As long as I am here, that ski slope will not be built," Machala told ČTK.

The main reason for the disputes before the vote was the fact that the city did not meet the requests of some applicants for house construction. Among them is Jarmila Slobodníková. Since the 1990s, she has been striving to build a house behind the bridge on the road to Libínské Sedlo. While there is a house in front of the bridge and a log cabin 500 meters from her property, the municipality has not allowed her construction.

"I have a very bad overall impression because double standards are being applied. A family house construction is allowed below us directly in a flood zone, while their request was submitted much later than ours,” Slobodníková told ČTK. Now she wants the municipality to remove the wading baths that are being utilized by the municipality free of charge on her land.

Antonín Jurčo, head of the building and regional development department, stated that the Slobodník family's land lies in undeveloped countryside. "It is a clear contradiction to the public interest in protecting undeveloped areas,” Jurčo said at the council meeting. According to him, the new zoning plan is sufficient for decades to come.

A counter-proposal to return the plan for revision was submitted by Růžena Štemberková (KDU-ČSL). She claimed that the population in the city is declining by a hundred each year. "I would like young people to live here, build, and for their children to attend school here. With this, we are more likely giving them a red light," Štemberková said. She also claimed that the representatives received misleading information in the documents.

The mayor rejects this. According to him, the zoning plan met the requests of people in several hundred instances. "In several individual cases, maybe a few dozen, unfortunately, we could not comply. The council cannot approve a zoning plan if there is even a single plot of land in conflict with the concerned authorities. The ministry could then annul it, send it back for revision, and that is something we would rather not experience," Malý said.

The city of Prachatice, where 10,935 residents live, had a surplus of approximately 20 million crowns last year. This figure is unaudited. "We have reduced debts to 27 million crowns, which is the lowest amount of debt in the last 20 years," the mayor said.