I. Metshin about the draft General Plan: “The best proposals of Kazan citizens should be implemented”

(KZN.RU, July 2, Alsu Safina). From 29 April to 6 June, public hearings on the draft General Plan of the city were held in Kazan on 13 sites. 4236 people took part in the discussion of this important document, 207 people took part in the meetings. By the end of the public hearings, 3545 written appeals were received. Such results were announced today on the Business Monday in the Executive Committee. Ilsur Metshin, the Mayor of Kazan, urged to analyze all the proposals of citizens and take them into account in further work on the document. In the coming months, the General Plan will be finalized. It is expected that it will be adopted by the end of the year.

Ilsur Metshin, the Mayor of Kazan, thanked all residents of the city who took part in the discussion of the draft document, which was developed by the specialists of the Moscow Institute of the General Plan. “A lot of work has been done. It is important that the best designers of our country are involved in this work”, noted the head of the city. “This document was widely discussed. There are more than 3 thousand proposals from concerned inhabitants, they must be analyzed. The best of them should be implemented and reflected in the final document”.

The Office of Architecture and Urban Development continues to process incoming comments and questions. Conclusion on the results of public hearings will be published until July 26.

Tatiana Prokofieva, the chief architect of Kazan, said that the hearings on the General Plan were hard and emotional, each meeting lasted 5-7 hours.

Before the start of public hearings, Kazan citizens had the opportunity to prepare for the meetings. The materials of the approved part of the General Plan were published in the collection of municipal legal acts, posted on the official website of the city, the website of the Department of Architecture and Urban Development, presented in the shopping centers. At the meetings, the working materials of the approved part of the General Plan were presented to residents for discussion. The developers talked about the composition of the document, the development of materials, the main provisions of territorial planning, presented a graphic part consisting of maps. In the course of the meetings, all those who wished to attend the meeting asked questions and expressed their views.

Most of the comments came from residents of the private sector. As an example, the chief architect brought several issues that were actively discussed at public hearings. So, attention was paid to the planned city-wide street, passing through the settlements Karier and Novaya Sosnovka.

“Due to the fact that during the development of the new General Plan, the task was set to continue the street outside the emergency landing zone, the developers placed it deeper into the Sosnovka. We received a lot of comments, hundreds of people came to us, they spoke at every meeting”, said the chief architect. “In the end, it was decided that the road will pass in the emergency landing zone, outside the Sosnovka. It will bypass the main massif of the Karier Settlement, passing partly through the gardens and partly through the forest”.

Another issue was the establishment of zone 430 (a zone of sanitary gardening, where construction is prohibited) next to the housing estate Novaya Sosnovka. “The General Plan does not establish such zones, but only displays areas where construction is impossible, which are provided by other higher-level documents”, explained Tatiana Prokofieva. “For example, the zone 430 near Sosnovka presents the materials of the construction restriction zone, which are being developed by the KAPO. Now the KAPO is developing a new scheme of limitations. As the boundaries of the zone change, we will make changes to the General Plan schedule”. The same situation was with zone 430 near Shosseinaya Street.

The planned street along Nagorny, which separates the residential area from the forest plot caused the discussion as well. “The designers have listened, now we are looking through various options”, said Tatiana Prokofieva. “Most likely, we will return to the version proposed by the current General Plan”.

Speaking about the planned city-wide street along the Salmachi Settlement, the chief architect noted that there are two aspects. The existence of a zone for the prohibition of construction along the gas pipeline and product pipelines and the road passing through this zone. “We do not have the right to remove the zone of the construction prohibition since it is connected by a sanitary zone”, said the chief architect. “We draw the road together with the designers. We try to conduct it in such a way that it meets all the requirements for construction in this area and minimally affects housing”.

Another street was planned through the residential area of Bolshie Klyki in the area of streets Kostin and Sabinskaya. “During the construction of the RC “Vesna”, this road was worked out. In order to reduce the number of demolished houses, another configuration was proposed: the division of this road into two parts”, said T. Prokofieva. “Eight houses were supposed to be demolished instead of 50 ones. But since the residents did not want to accept the offer, we refused this road. Departure from residential areas will be carried out on other roads”.

Residents of the city were against the reduction of the green zone on Gavrilov Street and the placement of a multi-storey residential development zone. “After hearing the opinion of residents, the General Plan offers a more sparing kind of development: smaller groups of residential buildings with a large preservation of green territory”, the chief architect announced the compromise.

“As a result of the discussion, the designers proposed new options that should satisfy the residents”, she noted. Tatiana Prokofieva drew attention to the fact that the General Plan has many interesting, economical, innovative solutions to improve the ecological situation in the sludge fields, and include many areas in the agricultural zone in the residential development. The new General Plan proposes to create conditions for the development of depressive industrial areas and create mechanisms to conserve existing green zones. In addition, all the social facilities for the developing city were laid in the General Plan. Tatiana Prokofieva reminded that the population of Kazan is projected to increase to 1.5 million people by 2035.

Tatiana Prokofieva said that the developers have already begun work on preparing their proposals for some of the comments received. Following the consideration of proposals and comments, they will give recommendations on making changes to the project materials or in a justified refusal. “All proposals that do not contradict the legislation or strategic provisions of the General Plan will be accepted”, she assured. “In case of negative conclusions, the developers will present the justifications for each comment”.

Based on the results of the decisions taken by the commission, the Moscow General Plan Institute will finalize the draft General Plan, which will be re-posted in the federal state information system for territorial planning for approval. The term of consideration is 3 months. “Thus, by the end of the year, we hope the General Plan will be adopted and approved”, concluded T. Prokofieva.

Ilsur Metshin assured that the document, which will be finished by the end of the year, will be published. “The request is to explain complex issues that relate to the future of our city by simple, accessible, not abstruse words”, said the Mayor of Kazan. “The document is adopted in order to prevent any errors, to allow the city to develop and be comfortable for the next decades”.