Volgograd cancels public hearings on construction of hotel in Predmostnaya Square

Public hearings on the construction of a hotel in Predmostnaya Square were cancelled because of the project's non-compliance with the town planning regulations. This was reported by Irina Solovyova, Acting Mayor of Volgograd. Natalia Latyshevskaya, a deputy of the regional Duma, started the work on a new draft law for public hearings.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on July 11, Volgograd held public hearings on the project of reconstruction of the embankment area. Activists of public organizations claimed the falsification of the public hearings ongoing in the city and the intention to cancel their results in court. Alexei Ulyanov, a blogger, and Nikolai Parshin, First Secretary of the Volgograd Regional Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF), have filed complaints to the prosecutor's office demanding to conduct the investigation into violations at public hearings.

On July 23, the issue of public hearings was discussed at the meeting of the regional Public Chamber.

"Following the public hearings held on July 11, the Public Chamber received many calls and appeals with regard to form and content of public hearings," the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was told by Oleg Kapustin, a member of the Public Chamber.

Yefim Shusterman, a member of the Public Chamber, states that the public hearings held in Volgograd were public only formally.

"No proposals were presented there; there were two speakers, and each of them spoke two minutes. In my opinion, at present, the public hearings held in Volgograd, in particular, in the field of urban development, especially in the Central District, turned into a profanation," said Yefim Shusterman at the meeting of the Public Chamber.

He believes that the region requires a unified law on public hearings. The member of the Public Chamber is convinced that at the public hearings, the people spoke not against the plan of embankment development, but against the form of organization of the discussion of the plan.

"The authorities' attempts to justify that by saying they did not expect so much interest mean that they failed to think it over. Since the exhibition of the embankment reconstruction projects was visited by 3000 persons, it was clear that the public hearings will gather a lot of people," Yefim Shusterman believes.

According to his statement, the projects of public hearings require public discussion and extended information content, up to the airing of the speeches delivered by chief architects.

In turn, Natalia Latyshevskaya, the deputy of the regional Duma, has stated that at present, the provision on the procedure and holding of public hearings in Volgograd, adopted in 2007, is violated everywhere.

"The basic principles of the provision on the organization and holding of public hearings are lawfulness, security, voluntariness, openness, and awareness. All of those five principles are not observed during such events. I attended all public hearings, and they were never held under the law," Natalia Latyshevskaya said.

At the meeting of the regional Public Chamber, she has stated that on July 17, she also filed a request to the Prosecutor's Office of the Volgograd Region and the local authorities.

According to the Natalia Latyshevskaya's statement, one of the most common violations in public hearings is "attraction of outsiders and organization of their participation in public hearings."

"As a rule, buses bring people, who by virtue of their positions cannot disobey the instructions of their chiefs. People were brought in busses to the public hearings on the embankment development. My acquaintance from the administration of the Krasnooktyabrsky District was among them," the deputy has stated.

The second typical violation is lack of awareness of participants and low information content of the projects to be discussed at public hearings. "As a rule, it is a kind of presentation that cannot be examines," Natalia Latyshevskaya says.

Participants of the public hearings often face poor organization of the place of public hearings.

"It is clear that the issue of the embankment development will be of great interest. It was a bad idea to hold public hearings in the hall of the 'Rodina' (Motherland) Cinema. The atmosphere there was something awful! Stuffiness, no lighting, and veterans have come into that atmosphere. The registration was extremely poorly organized, and people were to stand for hours. Besides, some people gave passports in packs, and that is strictly prohibited," said the deputy of the regional Duma.

The last one of the most frequent violations is lack of an organized system of voting.

"At the hearing, there was a lack of number plates, and some plates were hastily drawn with markers, and I cannot say how all those plates were collected into piles. The voting was absolutely illegitimate and it fails to reflect the opinion of residents of Volgograd," Natalia Latyshevskaya has stated.

Thus, the deputy believes the problem is not just that the records of public hearings are falsified, but also in the fact that many paragraphs of the provisions of holding public hearings went out of date.

"From the very beginning, it was clear that the public hearings on the embankment development went wrong, and an urgent decision was to be made to cancel or postpone public hearings, and the provisions fail to specify the situation," Natalia Latyshevskaya has noted. And she continued: "One should take care that at present, the life is different and active, and it should be reflected in the regulations. The situation of public hearings in our city is very bad."

In her request to the authorities, the deputy asked to carry out a comprehensive review of the records of the public hearings for the period starting from January 1, 2013, cancel the results of past public hearings and ensure their future lawfulness.

On July 16, following the public hearing held on July 11, Natalia Latyshevskaya organized a special meeting of the Regional Ecological Council.

"The audience listened to the presentation of the embankment development project, and 95 percent of the persons approved the project," Natalia Latyshevskaya has emphasized. And she continued: "I do not understand what the authorities are afraid of why they do not organize normal public hearings?"

In the deputy's opinion, the authorities should professionally inform city residents about the changes expected to be made to the layout, construction and new urban development.

Natalia Latyshevskaya told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that she started the work on the draft law on public hearings.

In Volgograd, at the "Rodina" Cinema, the next public hearings on the construction of the hotel in Predmostnaya Square were scheduled for July 25; however, they were cancelled. On the eve of the public hearings, the public organization "Narodny StroyKontrol" (People's Construction Control) has disseminated an open appeal to all authorities and residents of the Volgograd Region.

"Starting from October 2012, in Predmostnaya Square in the centre of Volgograd, the company 'Zemlya-Profi' performs works on the construction of a low-rise hotel with underground parking. During the period from the beginning of construction, numerous irregularities were revealed at the site," the appeal states.

In particular, according to the information of the public organization "Narodny StroyKontrol", the area of the construction site has been extended without permission by 810 square meters, and a part of multi-year park area was destroyed without compensatory planting.

Besides, the appeal states, in the course of construction, the norms of the law on preservation of historical and cultural heritage are ignored.

"Local historians suggest that namely this place contains unique historical layers: firstly, the watch settlement of 'Golden Horde' of the 13th century, and, secondly, the later fortress of Tsaritsyn."

Authors of the appeal state that the change in the parameters of construction proposed by the company-developer, in particular, the increase in the number of floors of the building of the future hotel from 30 to 75 meters, will significantly increase the burden on the surrounding objects and the remaining park area of Predmostnaya Square.

In their appeal, the public organization activists called on local residents, officials and MPs to prevent violations during the procedure of public hearings on urban development.

The public hearings on the construction of the hotel were stopped by Irina Solovyova, Acting Mayor of Volgograd. This was told to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent by Irina Solovyova herself. The validity of the resolution to hold public hearings is suspended till the company-developer eliminates the inconsistencies.

"A number of questions arose to the organization-developer LLC (Limited Liability Company) 'Zemlya-Profi', which appealed to the city administration with a request for holding public hearings, and the answers to that questions are not yet available," the Acting Mayor has explained the decision to cancel the scheduled public hearings.

Irina Solovyova also believes that the increasing of number of floors of the building will have negative consequences, including the fact that the construction project will go beyond the parameters specified by standards of urban development.

"We need to listen to the opinions of experts in the field of architecture and construction, public organizations and more time to study in detail all the consequences that may result from the adoption of the proposed urban development project," Acting Mayor believes.

Irina Solovyova is also convinced that "the city administration should be more responsible for the organization and holding of public hearings."

"The fact that the issue is not all right is evidenced by complaints of citizens that come to me as the Acting Mayor of Volgograd," Irina Solovyova has stated.

Till present, the "Caucasian Knot" has no comments of representatives of LLC "Zemlya-Profi" on the information regarding the violations committed during the construction of the hotel.