Builders will build

The Legislative Assembly's Commission on Urban Economy, Urban Planning and Land Issues summed up the development of a legislative package regulating urban planning policy and land use in St. Petersburg.

Over the past three years, a new General Plan has appeared (corrected in the spring of 2008), a law on the boundaries of zones for the protection of cultural heritage in St. Petersburg and the regimes of land use within the boundaries of these zones, and Land Use and Development Rules, which should be published in the coming days and in 10 days thereafter will take effect.
The commission calls the adopted documents “the minimum necessary package of urban planning documentation for territorial planning in St. Petersburg” and states that a number of proposals that were submitted to the PZZ on its behalf were accepted.
Thus, according to the chairman of the commission Sergei Nikeshin, the regulation of the maximum height has been extended to the entire territory of the city (now there are no areas on it without height restrictions) and “unambiguous criteria have been recorded by which it is possible to evaluate the maximum height of buildings from the position of protecting the silhouette of the historical center of St. Petersburg and historical suburbs " When setting the maximum building height, it was decided not to take into account the heights of constructed and designed buildings that violate the silhouette of the historical city center and historical suburbs. The height regulations will not legalize “urban planning errors” of both the present and the past, because this prevents the possibility of correcting them in the future. A ban has been established on new construction and reconstruction that changes the height characteristics of existing buildings in the protected zone. The general part of the PZZ introduced (this was also proposed by many participants in public hearings in all districts of the city) indicators of development density and the coefficient of use of the territory, while establishing “differentiated indicators of development density depending on the type of residential development and its location.”
What's next? And then we need another important urban planning document - Regional urban planning standards, which set out “minimum calculated indicators for ensuring favorable living conditions for the population of St. Petersburg,” including indicators for the provision of engineering infrastructure, landscaping, social and public utility facilities and accessibility of such facilities for the population (including people with disabilities). Now planning of the urban environment is carried out without these standards, and planning and land surveying projects are carried out by private companies, which, as a rule, do not care much about social services and other objects. The result is simple: residential buildings are being built, and then it turns out that there are no normal amenities in the area, no schools, no kindergartens, no shops: all this is left “for later.” And for several years, residents have been forced to take their children to schools or kindergartens located in other neighborhoods...
Sergei Nikeshin believes that the approval of urban planning standards is now a top priority - especially since the PZP states that from January 1, 2010, the preparation of planning and land surveying projects without taking into account these standards is prohibited. The commission will contact the new construction vice-governor Roman Filimonov to determine the timing and procedure for preparing standards (they must be approved by the law of St. Petersburg).
Until this is resolved, the issue of protecting the rights of shareholders remains hot. The corresponding law, introduced by the City Prosecutor's Office, was adopted in the first reading, but there will certainly be many amendments to it, moreover, it is during the second reading that it should be determined by what means the measures proposed there to help defrauded shareholders will be financed (among them, we recall, the completion of corresponding houses at the expense of the city, so the costs will be significant).
The commission is going to submit a draft resolution of the Legislative Assembly to appeal to the governor - listing those measures to “prevent violations in the field of shared-equity construction and ensure the inevitability of punishment for developers who commit violations” that it considers necessary.
Namely: to instruct the State Construction Supervision and Expertise Service, together with district administrations, not to allow the construction of apartment buildings without the conclusion of a state examination of project documentation and a construction permit, to hold, together with the FAS Department, accountable under Article 14.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses (inappropriate advertising) of those developers who place advertising to attract funds from equity holders without a positive conclusion from the state examination and a construction permit. It is also expected to force developers to follow the Federal Law on Shared Shared Construction when constructing apartment buildings using citizens’ funds.
The latter is relevant because many developers conclude with citizens not an equity participation agreement, but a preliminary purchase and sale agreement - and in the event of a conflict, a citizen, in principle, cannot exercise his rights, which are provided by federal law. Just as he cannot take advantage of the rights that the St. Petersburg law on the protection of defrauded shareholders provides him - simply because he does not fall into this category. The commission proposes that city authorities, through the media, inform citizens as fully as possible about the risks they are exposed to in this area - perhaps as a result of this there will be fewer defrauded shareholders.

Vladimir MAKSIMOV