Prague will try to buy back the plots of gardens in Vysočany

Prague - The Prague City Hall will discuss acquiring land from the gardening colony near Rokytka in Prague 9, where the development company JRD plans to build apartments based on a future contract with the church, which owns the land. City councilors decided on this today. Local residents and the Prague 9 municipality are protesting the planned construction, arguing that green space should be preserved there.

Prague 9 previously created the Zahrádky park in the area, which it would like to expand further as one of the last green spaces in Vysočany, where extensive residential development is planned. The civic association Arnika recently stated that the gardeners from the local association are in a notice period, which will soon expire, and they expect that the demolition of the colony will begin thereafter. The mayor's deputy for territorial development, Petr Hlaváček (STAN), said today that there is agreement on the interest in the land, but the negotiations will likely be complicated.

According to the current land-use plan, the land is designated for construction. It is still owned by the church, which acquired it in restitution, and according to Arnika, has a future contract with the company JRD for its purchase at the moment when it receives building permits. According to representatives of the local residents, it is in the city's interest to preserve green spaces where protected animal species also live. "We want the place to remain undeveloped and to be accessible to the public, with part of it becoming a community garden and a school garden for children from the new school," stated Lukáš Příbramský, the chairman of the association Rokytka žije, some time ago.