public hearings 01

7/31/2019 Public Hearings 01

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According to the Town-planning Code (Article 28) of RussianFederation Public Hearings are:

1 Obligatory procedurethat precedes the acceptance of town-planning law projects

(such as city master-plans, etc.);

a) terms

b) objects of consideration

c) participants;

2 Regimentedby the Town-planning Codeaccording to their

3 Further regimented in each Municipalityaccording to the town-planning legislation of this Municipality.


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&

DISTRICT

TOWN-PLANNING AND

LAND USE COMMITTEE

Who is authorized to organise Public Hearings?(Statute on the procedure of conducting Public Meetings)

CITY TOWN-PLANNING

AND LAND USE

COMMITTEE

City Town-planning committee (or council) was

created in 2009 for coordinating the interaction between

Moscow Administration and Moscow citizens upon

town-planning and land use issues. First head of the City

Town-planning committee isV. Resin former First

vice-mayor and head of the Construction&Architecture

department (2001-2011). In 2010 the City Town-

planning council was renamed as City Town-planningand Land Use committee (or council) and Moscow

Mayor S. Sobyanin is now the head of this committee**.

Each Administrative District of Moscow also have its

own town-planning and land use committee

*From the official City Government Website: http://mos.ru/en/press-center/

news/index.php?id_4=21523
http://mos.ru/en/press-center/news/index.php?id_4=21523http://mos.ru/en/press-center/news/index.php?id_4=21523http://mos.ru/en/press-center/news/index.php?id_4=21523http://mos.ru/en/press-center/news/index.php?id_4=21523


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1. Moscow citizens who live or work on the

territory where public hearings are held or the

representatives of these citizens organizations and

communities.

2. Tenure holders and property holders whose

property (land plots, infrastructure objects, housing

and non-residential premises) is located on the

territory affected by changes that require public

hearings.

3. Municipal deputies of Municipalities affected by

changes that require public hearings.

4. Moscow City Duma deputies.

Who can participate in Public Hearings?(Moscow Town-planning Code, Article 68, Part 2)


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1. The announcement of Public Hearings:

publication and distribution of the announcement

2. Exhibition of the project

3. Conducting Public Hearings

4. Writing the report on the process of

Public Hearings

Public Hearings must be conducted in the following way:(Moscow Town-planning Code, Article 68, Part 5)

5. Issuing conclusion report on

the results of Public Hearings


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1Every participant has a right to comment on and contribute suggestions to the discussed project,

master plan, etc. in aordance with the established procedure.All comments and suggestions

contributed by the participants of Public Hearings have to be recorded in aordance with the

established procedure (Ar. 68, p.3).

2

All the projects subject to Public Hearings procedure have to be send to Municipal Councils

(Municipalnoe Sobranie) 30 days prior to the announcement of Public Hearings. In 15 days upon

receiving the projects Municipalities have to send their comments and suggestion on the projects

to the authorized town-planning organization (authority) or a counterpart council.*

3

All the residents, tenure & property holders, etc. whose property or other rights can be violated by

the implementation of the town-planning or construction project can send their comments and

suggestions to the City Government, ity Town-planning committee** or a district-based town-

planning council.

* Do Municipal Councils have to send their feedback before the Public Hearings?? Or it means thatafter the receiving of the projects Municipalities have only 15 days for holding a Public Hearing,processing the the feedback and sending it to the authorized town-planning authorities orcounterpart councils?

Feedback:(Moscow Town-planning Code Article 68, part 3 & Article 69, Parts 1-3)


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START FINISH

Announcing the holding of Public Hearings Issuing the report*

Master plan of Moscow, Land Use and Development Rules

2 months (min) 4 months (max)

Changes of Master plan or Land Use and Development Rules

all other projects

1 month (min) 2 months (max)

2 months (max)

Terms of Public Hearings(Moscow Town-planning Code, Article 68, Part 4)

*Public Hearings must to be followed by issuing the report on the results of the Hearings.


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1Sad outcomes of the Public Hearings for

the city Master Plan untill 2025*

Public Hearings for the Master Plan held in

2009 showed that:

1. Average cit izen who didnt have

architectural training couldnt understand a

thing in plans exhibited.

2. Master Plan wasnt presented as an entity

but as 125 pieces (for 125 administrative

districts) that were not connected to eachother.

3. Policy that prescribes a right to comment

on a project or make suggestions only to

those who officially live or have a workplace

on the discussed territory is inefficient.

4. The feedback mechanism is unclear. A

citizen doesnt have a guarantee that his

opinion will be taken into consideration.

5. Master Plan isnt based on environmental

or health statistic. Hence it doesnt containthe information that is in interest of the

citizens.

Projects subject to Public Hearings(Moscow Town-planning Code, Article 68, Part 1)

Master Plan of Moscow and changes of the existing Master Plan.


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Land Use and Development Regulations (LUDR) and changes of the existing LUDR.

2L a n d U s e a n d D e v e l o p m e n t

Regulations (LUDR) are designed as

Moscow analogue of NY zoning law that

will prescribe strategical use of a certain

territory or a plot within this territory. This

legislation will regulate the type of land

use, density, height, special architecture

and construction requirements, etc. Public

hearings are a mandatory procedure forthe LUDR project.

LUDR will consist of 2 parts: land classifier

with the list of zones and the established

procedure of their implementation and a

map of the entire territory of the city

showing the boundaries or zones and

sub-zones. The finishing of the law project

has been postponed few times already.

The next deadline is Dec 31 2012.

New York 1916 ? Moscow 2012 !



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Territorial and strategical planning projects that promote development,reconstruction or reorganization of residential areas, green spaces,

territories within historical and cultural preservation zones.Project for the development of the territory of CDKh and Museon park on Krymsky Val by N. Foster. 2008

3

Moscow says no to Sir Norman Foster

In March 2008 at the exhibition in Cannes E. Baturina wife

of ex-mayor Y.Luzhkov and the head of development

company Inteko presented the project Orange-House

designed by Fosters bureau to replace existing building of the

Central House of Artists (CDKh) on Krymsky Val.

Implementation of the project would destroy the existing

Museon Art Park that surrounds CDKh. A wave of criticism

towards the project raised in media; many artists, architects

and citizens united against the project. Fosters project was

soon removed from the agenda, but plans for the

development and reconstruction of the CDKh territory

persisted.

On Feb 24 2009 public hearings were conducted. Article 68

Part 1 of Moscow Town-planning code prescribes that only

local residents can participate in public hearings which made

the CDKh one of the most important cultural institutions of

Moscow a local case. But on the day of hearings manyinfluential supporters of CDKh organised a picket in front ofthe building so finally they got a permission to speak at the

hearings.

Citizens and experts all voted against the development project

but it didnt automatically cancel the project. At the same time

there is legal basis for the project cancellation based on the

results of Public Hearings:

Results of the Public Hearings are the basis for

revising the project or declaring it unviable

(inappropriate). Moscow Town-planning Code: Article 4,

Part 1

The success (temporary at least) of the CDKh preservation isa rare case for Moscow. The key probably is in citizens

consensus on the subject, wide support of the expert

community and broad media coverage.


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Site plan.

4

Lawful designs

A site plan is a set of designs

showing a) the boundaries of the

planned construction objects and

infrastructure; b) the key characteristics

of the property such as density and

height, etc.; c) features of the facilities social, transportation and technical

re qu i r e d fo r t h e t e r r i t o r y

deve lopment ; d ) mate r ia ls fo r

substantiation of the chosen design*.

This detailed site plan is subject to

consideration at Public Hearings;

ratification by the executive authorities

of Moscow Administrative districts or

other executive authorities of Moscow

responsible for town-planning policies

(such as City Town-planning and Land

Use Committee, etc.) and approval byFederal executive authorities if federal

property is locate don the site*.

In the absence of RUDR, the decisions

on the site are taking by authorities

individually (of course, its the

compliance with the Master Plan

should be taken into consideration first)

which creates the room for the

authorities for abusing their powers.

*Moscow Town-planning Code,

Article 39 and 40.


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Land surveying plan.

5


Cutting the pie

It used to be a common practice in Moscow

(actually, on almost all the ex-USSR territory) to build

residential block housing without setting boundaries

to the land plot. At the same time land surveying is apre-requisite for condominium creation. The

purpose of the survey is establishing real estate and

property right for those who want to organize

themselves into a TSZh (Homeowners Association).

According to the Housing Code (Article 36, 37,

44) residents of the multi-family block houses have

a right for the allocation of land that is attached to

the house (to create collective, not private property).

The allocation process is very complex and require

creating a land surveying plan for the plot subject to

allocation and neighbouring territories. In Moscow,

money for land surveying expertise are withdrawnfrom the city budget, but the waiting period can be

up to 8 years. Many citizens who want to organise

a TSZh and allocate the attached land plot have to

use private surveying agencies and pay for the

surveying expertise themselves.

But practice shows that even in this case local

authorities are quite reluctant to let residents

allocate the plots and often abuse the fact that

Housing Code (as well as Land Code and Town-

planning Code) doesnt contain clear definition of

the house land plot and its size.

*Moscow Town-planning Code, Article 39 and

40.


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Infill construction a term that doesnt exist in

any Land or City-Planning Code (which make it

invisible for the legislation) but widely use by media

to describe a type of construction that violates the

right to comfort living of those who live in the

neighboring buildings. In addition to that infill

construction can potentially result in decreasing the

price of the surrounding property. At the same time,

proposals for infill construction are often presented

by the developers as a necessary improvement of

the locality, e.g. a shopping area within walking

distance, etc.

The City had a special purpose program for the

development of the built-up areas (of a block or

microrayon) that is designed to protect the living

standards of the residents: Resolution No.872 on

the targeted investment program of the Moscow

City Goverment 2008-2010: The Architecture

Department and the Town-Planning policy,

Development and Reconstruction Department shall

not propose infill construction in built-up areas of

Moscow (clearly, it is no longer valid).

Moscow Town-planning Code rules prescribe that

the interested parties should be informed about the

planned construction. But apart from the

declarative provisions there is no way to ensure the

rights of the citizens to obtain this information and

express their opinion other that public hearings*.

The consequences for the public disapproval are

also stated quite obscurely: The results of publichearings are the basis for revising the proposed plan

or declaring it inviable (inappropriate). So according

to the law, development projects that havent

received citizens support are not cancelled

immediately. It is very important to legally determine

the consequences of public disapproval of decisions

made by authorities to use a site for construction.

To what extend do the decisions of public

hearings bind on executive authorities?

6

Fighting the invisible enemy

Site plans for development of land plots inside built-in areas

residential blocks or microrayons.

Project for the development of the territory in Troparevo-Nikulino, Lomonosovsky pr. by the development company Stroy-Trace, April 2012


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Permitted land use refers to the types of

activities or construction legally permitted on a

certain land plot. According to the Land Code

(Article 7), there are 7 categories of land

(zones): agricultural, residential, industrial, forest

area, etc. Permitted land use corresponds with

the land type as particular or specific

corresponds with the general, hence the twain

shall always be in accordance. However, an

exhaustive list of permitted land use cant be

found in Russian legislation. Another

discrepancy is that the Land Code doesnt

determine who establishes permitted use of an

individual land plot*.

Apart from the permitted land use term there

is also conventionally permitted land

use (Town-planning Code, Article 37). Again,

there is no clear definition of what is

conventionally permitted land use and how it

differs from the permitted land use. But it is

the change of conventionally permitted landuse that requires the consideration at Public

Hearings. According to the Town-planning

Code (Article 39), a stakeholder can apply to

the City or District Town-planning and Land Use

Committee to get permission for the change of

the conventionally permitted land use of the

plot. Town-planning and Land Use Committee

must organise public hearings and then take a

decision based on the result of the public

hearings.

Decisions on the change of the category of the

land also require conducting of public hearings.But as in Moscow only local residents can

participate in public hearings, it automatically

switches important city or even region-scale

issues (such as changing the zone from forest

area to transport infrastructure Khimkiforest case) to the local level that createsmany opportunities for the manipulation of

results. Technically, the allocation of industrial

land for development projects in Moscow

require public hearings as well. But who are

going to be the participants?

7

Permissions for the change of conventionally permitted land use

of a land plot or infrastructure object or for deflection from the

established boundaries of construction/reconstruction.

Industrial areas. warehouses and thermal power plants of Moscow.

Confusing terms, unfair policies


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Where Public Hearings are held?(Moscow Town-planning Code, Article 68, Part 1)

In each Municipality*; in each Municipality affected by changes

In each Administrative district (Rayon); in each Administrative districtaffected by changes

In the Administrative district affected by the development

In the Administrative district affected by the development

In a sub-division (block, microrayon) of the Administrative district affected by the development



Before the expansion there were

125 Municipalities called Municipal

Districts (Municipalnyi Okrug )

whose borders matched with the

borders of Administrative Districts

(Rayon) and all of them had the

same powers; starting from July,

1st of 2012* when Moscow will

officially expand there will be 3

types of Municipalities with (slightly)different powers:

1. Municipal Districts (125)

2. City Districts (Gorodskoy

Okrug) former City Districts of

Moscow Region (2)

3. Settlements (Poselenie)

former city or rural settlement of

Moscow Region (19)

*From the official City Government Website:

http://mos.ru/en/press-center/news/index.php?

id_4=21523
http://mos.ru/en/press-center/news/index.php?id_4=21523http://mos.ru/en/press-center/news/index.php?id_4=21523http://mos.ru/en/press-center/news/index.php?id_4=21523http://mos.ru/en/press-center/news/index.php?id_4=21523

public hearings 01

Documents