The council has suspended the preparation of the change to the zoning plan for Bubny

Prague - Prague city councilors have suspended the process of changing the zoning plan for Bubny. Prague wants to negotiate with the landowner to stop the demolition of buildings in the area. There is currently a construction freeze in place, which was supposed to be lifted by the zoning plan change. However, Mayor Adriana Krnáčová (ANO) has not yet succeeded in arranging a meeting with the landowners. She stated this at a press conference after today’s council meeting. Deputy Mayor Matěj Stropnický (SZ/Trojkoalice) announced the suspension of the change last week after the company began demolishing the buildings.
    "I still hope that the meeting will happen. I can't do anything more than try to call Mr. (Radovan) Vítek, send him SMS and messages through colleagues," the mayor said. Vítek is the owner of Orco Property Group, which owns the land in Bubny. Orco Group spokeswoman Eva Kučmášová described Stropnický's approach as blackmail last week.
    According to Stropnický, the suspension of the change should create space for negotiations with the investor. "If we were to terminate the process of change, everything would go back to the beginning. We chose to suspend the process so that it would be difficult to legally challenge," he said today. In the council's resolution, he was tasked with negotiating with the landowners.
    The demolished workshop buildings were a protected monument, but their protection was revoked by the Ministry of Culture seven years ago. There is now a valid demolition order for them, and the only remaining monument is the waterworks building. The city of Prague cannot appeal the order because the workshops were handled by the Railway Authority as a special building office, and the appeal deadlines have expired.
    Orco Property Group acquired the buildings and land in the train station area in 2006. At that time, eight objects in the area were monument-protected, as the Ministry of Culture listed them in 2004. After repeated requests from the owner and based on the expert and legal assessments provided by him, the ministry revoked the protection first from five and then, a few months later, from another two objects in 2008.
    The development area of Bubny-Zátory, located between the Vltavská and Nádraží Holešovice metro stations, is one of the 15 major development areas of the capital city, for which a construction freeze is in effect. Orco plans to build a new neighborhood on 27 hectares. The project developer is CPI.