In Jihlava, an agreement with residents is taking shape; they want a guarantee of protection during the construction of the arena

Jihlava - A deal with the residents of the houses on Tyršova Street is emerging in Jihlava regarding the planned construction of the Horácká multifunctional arena (HMA) for 1.9 billion crowns. The town hall will have it built in place of the old stadium, which will be demolished. People from the nearby street want a guarantee of protective measures against the impacts of the construction, such as noise, vibrations, dust, and lighting. They have filed an objection to the issuance of the demolition order and then an objection to the Ministry for Regional Development due to possible systemic bias of the Jihlava building authority and the county office. According to Mayor Petr Ryška (ODS), the proceedings could be extended by months because of this.

Both parties confirmed at today's press conference that they are close to an agreement following Wednesday's meeting, including the mayor and the legal representative of the residents of Tyršova Street, Jaroslav Homolka. According to them, the agreement could be signed in the coming days, followed by the withdrawal of the bias objection. Homolka stated that there must be agreement among his clients on this.

"The main message is that at this moment we have reached an agreement, and if there are no complications, I firmly believe that we could move towards each other and that construction could begin in the summer," said Ryška. He noted that besides signing the agreement, the city council must also approve additional funding for protective measures that go beyond those currently considered next month. He did not specify the amount of these costs.

"We probably couldn't have gotten any further," Homolka said regarding the proposal for the agreement. He mentioned that the residents of the houses on Tyršova Street did not want to boycott the construction; according to him, it was in their interest to negotiate acceptable conditions for living during the construction period.

The city had to request the demolition order again because it did not manage to start the demolition last year. Preparations for the construction of the arena have also taken longer due to the higher price offers received in the public procurement than Jihlava expected. The construction is intended to be awarded to the company GEMO, which offered the lowest price. The town hall recently stated that if construction work begins at the turn of June and July, the arena should be completed by September 2025.

Residents on Tyršova Street, for example, were unhappy that builders would work on weekends. Homolka stated that they are willing to accept this under certain conditions. "Basically, we agreed that at least the noisy work on weekends would be limited to some acceptable time," he said. Potential damage to the houses will also be monitored, and the protective barrier will be higher.

The old winter stadium in Jihlava has been closed since last year due to poor roofing; the hockey team Dukla is playing its matches in Pelhřimov and Jindřichův Hradec. The city has promised 800 million crowns in grants from the region and the National Sports Agency for the project. An objection against the selection of the construction firm was filed at the end of March by the unsuccessful consortium of companies Metrostav DIZ, OHLA ŽS, and Podzimek. After receiving an explanation from the town hall, they no longer contested the selection.