Prague wants to discuss 19 significant changes to the zoning plan more quickly

Prague - The capital city will allocate 19 proposals for city-wide significant changes to the urban plan and will prepare them separately, thus outside the discussion of the new urban plan. This new plan is expected to take effect in 2010, but the city wants to expedite these proposals. They relate to several significant transportation projects and strategic initiatives, such as the construction of a new runway at Václav Havel Airport. The city council decided on separate discussions yesterday.
The new urban plan should come into effect in 2010. According to councilor Martin Langmajer (ODS), the reason these changes will not wait for the new plan is their strategic importance. They are crucial for city development, improving ecology, or for individual city parts that requested their inclusion.
Seven proposed changes pertain to strategic projects. The proposal includes declaring public benefit construction for the extension of the runway at Václav Havel Airport and for the grade-separated intersection of the Rozvadovská Connection and Řevnická Street. It also suggests increasing the capacity for airport access, changing the use of the Nusle Brewery, or modernizing the railway line between the Main and Smíchov stations.
The same number of changes falls under ecological measures. "This includes, for example, declaring public benefit construction for the revitalization of the Kopaninský Stream, supplementing some biocorridors, afforestation actions, and park areas, and similar," said councilor Langmajer.
City parts requested changes such as the alteration of the use of a military site in Prague 6 or the expansion of a landfill in Březiněves. There is also a joint proposal from Prague 10, 11, and 15, which want to address the area known as Trojmezí between Záběhlická, Práčská, Mírového hnutí, and K Horkám streets.
"They aim to strengthen green elements, establish park areas, and recreation and sports zones, and appropriate urbanization including resolving transport accessibility. This proposal has already been the subject of a complex debate; the city council did not agree with the originally proposed plan for high-rise residential development but allows for discussions about separate low-rise development situated in greenery," asserts Langmajer.
The announcement of the new runway at Václav Havel Airport as a public benefit construction has faced opposition from representatives of the Green Party. According to them, the new runway will lead to noise pollution for hundreds of thousands of Prague residents. Without clearly defined limits on airport growth and conditions for restricting nighttime flights over Prague, they cannot agree with this construction, say the Green representatives.
They also criticize the change, which they believe opens the possibility of developing approximately 268 hectares of green space in the so-called Trojmezí. "We do not agree that decisions about the expansion of the airport or development in Trojmezí should be made outside the preparation of the urban plan. Both proposed changes need to be assessed in broader contexts, considering the impacts on noise limits and the city-wide green system, and not as separate development projects," stated councilor and member of the urban development committee Zuzana Drhová (SZ).
The proposals will now be developed further and will be commented on by state institutions, city parts, and the public. The final proposals will then need to be approved by the council and the city assembly.