The committee rejected the proposal to regulate the construction of mosques in the building law

Prague - The Parliamentary Committee for Public Administration today began dealing with two hundred amendment proposals to the amendment of the building act, which aims mainly to simplify and speed up the approval of constructions. Members decided to withdraw some of their proposals and will present them at the second reading in the Chamber of Deputies. These mainly concerned proposals that lacked support from the Ministry for Regional Development. Among other things, the committee rejected a proposal for stricter regulation of religious buildings, including mosques.

The proposal for stricter regulation of the construction of religious buildings for some churches, but not all, was introduced by ANO MP Karel Rais. For their approval, he suggested, among other things, a municipal referendum. The Ministry disagreed with his proposal, deeming it unconstitutional, as it disproportionately interferes with constitutional rights to self-governance and freedom of religion.

The committee also rejected another Rais's proposal to extend the validity of old zoning plans. They are set to expire on January 1, 2021, but some cities like Brno, Prague, or Mladá Boleslav will not be able to develop a new plan by then. Minister Karla Šlechtová (ANO) disagreed with this and pointed out, among other things, that it would interfere with the law for the sake of three cities.

Petr Bendl (ODS) also failed with a proposal to remove the right of citizens to submit a proposal to the municipality for the preparation of a zoning plan. The committee supported a proposal by Josef Uhlík (KDU-ČSL) to keep the sentence in the law stating that in cases of doubt as to whether it is a facility, such as an advertising panel or an information board, or a construction, the building authority should decide.

"We want to shorten the proceedings, we want to simplify, we are reducing bureaucracy for builders, both small and large," the minister described the key priorities of the amendment. The amendment also introduces the possibility of merging zoning and building proceedings and assessing the impact on the environment (EIA) into a coordinated approval process. Such a construction will be simultaneously designated and approved with one official decision.

According to the minister, the amendment will also significantly shorten the process of updating the principles of regional development and changes to zoning and regulatory plans. For linear constructions, transport, and energy, in cases where it is objectively impossible to place the project within the corridor in the zoning plan, a possibility is introduced based on the decision of the regional office to deviate from this corridor in undeveloped areas. "Here we anticipate saving at least two years," Šlechtová noted.

The bill also allows municipal councils to decide on creating a zoning plan with elements of a regulatory plan. "This is a great relief for mayors, for municipal politics, for the council," the minister stated.

Other parliamentary committees also have the amendment on their agenda today. The second reading could be on the schedule for a meeting that will begin at the end of February.