The distribution commission rejected the heritage protection of the Solo Sušice factory

Sušice (Klatovy) - The Minister of Culture's preservation committee does not agree to the ministry declaring heritage protection for the Solo Sušice factory, a former match factory. The assessment of six buildings has returned to the beginning a year and a half after the request for heritage protection. The committee is requesting evaluations and additional information, which will take several months, said Petra Ulbrichová, head of the ministry's heritage protection department, to ČTK today. The owner of the site and the investor, who wants to build shops there, view this as a victory.
    "At the end of the year, the ministry declared quite extensive heritage protection. The site owner appealed and filed an objection to the minister, and the objection committee annulled the decision regarding all six proposed buildings," stated Mayor Petr Mottl (ODS). According to him, heritage protection is good, but it is necessary to have a purpose for the buildings. He does not believe that the buildings have significant historical value. "Rather for the history of matches. Something should definitely remain from the match factory," he said. The investor offered the city the former administrative building of the management for one crown at the roundabout and proposes to preserve the administrative building on Railway Street, from which a hotel would be created.
    If the factory were to become a cultural monument, nothing could be done according to Mottl, and the area would be blocked for a long time, as neither a private owner nor the state would invest money into it.
    "The first-instance proceedings continue. We have to have an expert opinion prepared and state what the purposes of the buildings should be. The committee concluded that we did too little to justify," said Ulbrichová. The committee suggested to the Minister of Culture that he annul the first-instance decision. "The proceedings have thus returned to the beginning," she stated. The ministry does not seek heritage protection for all structures. "But we do not think that everything should just be demolished," she said. If the ministry decides on heritage protection, another objection is expected. The original proposal by the regional Museum of Šumava in Sušice was for the heritage protection of three buildings, but now six are being assessed.
    Fuertes Development Kuřim still has an interest in building a shopping center on the site of the former Solo for 200 to 250 million CZK. "We won the objection proceedings, which challenged the entire investment and the rights of the site owner (Solo Matches & Flames a.s. Brno)," said investor Zdeněk Přichystal. Fuertes and Solo have already provided the ministry with an assessment of the condition of the buildings. "I think it will now go quickly and that they will agree with us," Přichystal stated.
    Fuertes has a request for a zoning decision at the building authority. The zoning proceedings are currently suspended. The investor, who has had the project prepared for two years, would like to start construction in spring 2016.
    Against the establishment of shops, a petition with 1,500 signatures from the local association My from Sušice is being presented. "For ten years, they could do anything in the area, but they did not propose a single economic solution," added Přichystal.