CTP wants to convene an extraordinary council meeting due to Amazon

Brno - The development company CTP Invest, which wants to buy land from Brno for the American online retailer Amazon at the Černovická terrace, will attempt to negotiate with Mayor Roman Onderka (Social Democrats) to convene an extraordinary city council meeting, regional director of CTP Tomáš Budař told ČTK today. This would allow the council to vote again on the contract with the Roads and Motorways Directorate (ŘSD) regarding the construction of a highway exit, which the city requires as a condition for selling the land.
    Deputy Mayor Oliver Pospíšil (Social Democrats) is, however, not very inclined towards this solution. He is not sure if there will be any change in the opinion of the councilors.
    On Tuesday, the councilors did not approve the contract with the ŘSD, and CTP now must act as quickly as possible to maintain Amazon's interest, which has a backup option and could build a warehouse in Austria or Slovakia, for example. The next regular council meeting is scheduled for March 18, and according to Budař, that is too late for further discussions regarding Amazon.
    "However, the council didn't clearly say either yes or no. They said that Amazon is fine, but CTP should be more involved in the construction of the exit. But that’s such an unclear opinion, which is probably the worst," Pospíšil believes. The issue is not just the contract with the ŘSD, which is committed to building the exit and which could, according to optimistic estimates, be completed by 2017. The concerns are about the impact of excessive traffic until the exit is built.
    "We perceive that the city wants Amazon and that it also wants to specify CTP's commitment. We already sent a letter to all councilors before the meeting. We are willing to help with land acquisitions and obtaining planning decisions and building permits. We are willing to put up to 56 million crowns for all of this, and that hasn’t changed," Budař said. However, CTP lacks a clear signal from the city. "They continue to talk generally and not specifically," claims Budař.
    Pospíšil is also unhappy with the February timing of the council meeting because it is necessary for the city to finalize the amendment to the contract with CTP approved in December. In that contract, the developer committed to contributing 36 million to traffic infrastructure adjustments, and now, in the mentioned letter, promised to add another 20 million. "The amendment would have to be displayed on the official board for two weeks, which takes up a large part of February. But if the opinions of the council are consistent, they should not approve the contract," Pospíšil believes.
    The construction of a giant hall with 95,000 m² raises controversy due to the fact that a highway exit to the industrial zone has been missing for several years. Because of this, excessive traffic burdens the streets of Slatiny and other adjacent city districts. Some citizens and the civic association Čisté Tuřany have opposed Amazon, fearing an increase in already unbearable traffic.
    In contrast, Amazon, the largest online retailer in the world, promises to create at least 1500 jobs, and even more during the pre-Christmas peak. The construction of one giant hall is also complicated in Dobrovíze near Prague.