Plzeň will announce on Wednesday whether there will be a referendum on the giant building in the center

Plzeň - The city of Plzeň will announce on Wednesday whether a referendum on the construction of a giant building in the center will take place. ČTK was informed today by the city hall spokesperson Zdeňka Kubalová. Activists from the referendum preparation committee were orally informed today that they are missing 400 to 700 signatures to support the public vote. They immediately started collecting them and will deliver them to the city hall on Monday.
    "We do not have the official paper from the magistrate yet. They are supposedly still completing a second check of the 14,768 signatures, and I should call tomorrow morning to find out how many we will be missing," said the spokesperson of the preparation committee, Martin Marek. According to him, the city hall is trying to delay the confirmation of the proposal as much as possible. Thus, the referendum would not be able to take place along with the regional elections on October 12 and 13, as the activists proposed, which according to Marek would reduce its costs to one fifth.
    "If the proposal is according to the law, we will address it at the nearest city council meeting," said Mayor Martin Baxa (ODS).
    The city hall checks the signatures according to the citizens' registry. "We have no way to verify if someone writes made-up information, temporary place of permanent residence, or they may strike out illegible signatures," said Petr Vaněk from the referendum committee. The activists began collecting the missing signatures today.
    The Corso Americká building, costing 2.5 billion CZK with shops, offices, apartments, and leisure spaces, is to be built on the site of the demolished cultural house by the Czech development company Amádeus. Opponents of the construction will have at least seven days to gather the missing signatures. The city hall could then use up to another 15 days to verify them. However, this would prevent the council from approving the referendum date at their nearest meeting on September 6.
    "If the referendum were to take place on a date other than the regional elections, definitely fewer people would come, and the chances of success would be much lower, and that's what’s at stake now," said Marek. However, he noted that it should be in the city's interest for as many people as possible to participate.
    The plebiscite will be valid if at least 35 percent of voters participate. It will be successful if more than 50 percent decide in favor of the proposal. The result would be legally binding for the council.