I. Metshin: “We are responsible for the future of Kazan and must make decisions in the interests of the majority”

(KZN.RU, August 5, Ksenia Shvetsova). For the four days of the final public discussions of the draft Kazan General Plan, Kazan citizens sent the developers more than two thousand proposals and comments. Each one will be considered in further work on the document. The General Plan takes into account the interests of most city residents. The implementation of the tasks outlined in the document provides for the development of Kazan for many years to come, marked Ilsur Metshin, the Mayor of Kazan, at the Business Monday.

The Mayor of Kazan thanked the residents of the city for their active participation in the discussion of the draft General Plan. He noted that each proposal will be taken into account in further work on the General Plan.

“Several pivotal points have formed on the periphery, but it is understandable, no one wants changes. People are made this way. But the city is a living organism, it is developing, growing, these processes cannot be stopped”, noted I. Metshin.

The largest number of residents’ complaints related to the design of roads. At the same time, the growth of motorization cannot but affect the plans for the development of the city, marked I. Metshin. “In 2006, we had 180 thousand cars in Kazan, and today there are 430 thousand. We, as the government, are obliged to form a transport system. We need to leave the corridors, mark the so-called “red lines” so that 9-storey buildings, shopping centers or other objects do not appear on these places. These issues are not resolved in one day”.

The construction of the Big Kazan Circle, which is currently underway in the capital of Tatarstan, was planned as early as the General Plan of 1969, reminded I. Metshin. Thus, many of the plans that developers put into the document today will be implemented by the end of the General Plan. “Unfortunately, there is no single medicine that would satisfy all the wishes and aspirations of people. Our task is to find optimal solutions with the help of the specialists we have chosen”.

The development of the General Plan of Kazan is carried out by specialists of the Institute of the General Plan of Moscow, one of the leading one in Russia. “We cannot question the professionalism of this team. But they are not miracle workers. They cannot figure out the way to make cars fly in the air without touching any transport corridors”.

“We guarantee fair market compensation to each owner of a land plot or apartment building whose property falls into the “red lines” zones. It will allow to observe all private rights and acquire other proportionate property for these funds”, I. Metshin. “We are responsible for the future of our city and must make decisions in the interests of the majority”.

On August 29, a conclusion on the results of public discussions will be published in the Collection of documents and legal acts of the Kazan Municipality and posted on the official portal KZN.RU.

For the first time, a discussion of the draft General Plan took place on the Internet at the information resource dispute.kzn.ru. Workplaces were equipped in district administrations and in the Department of Architecture and Urban Planning for participants in public discussions on the draft General Plan who do not have access to a computer. There, they could submit their suggestions and comments to the information system. About 40 people used this opportunity.

“In the Department of Architecture and Urban Planning, citizens were given the opportunity to submit their suggestions and comments personally. More than 500 people used this opportunity”, said I. Dyabilkina. “But the zone of rendering consultations on the draft General Plan, organized by the administration, attracted special attention of the citizens. In 4 days, 323 people asked for help”.

The speaker noted the high responsibility of the citizens who took part in public discussions. There was not a single deviation due to the incorrect form of questions or suggestions. The most frequently asked questions were related to the design of roads and driveways in settlements Salmachi, Voznesenskoe, Derbyshki, the relief road of the Gorkovskoe Highway. Many questions have been raised regarding the development of the banks of the Kazanka River along Gavrilov Street, the zone of minimum permissible distances from the main gas pipeline, restricted areas for helicopter and aircraft plants, and others.

Residents were often interested in what functional area their land belongs to and what is the prospect of the development of this territory in the future.

“In total, 2045 proposals and comments on the draft General Plan were submitted over the period of the exposition, and 37 of them were rejected. They have been accepted for consideration and will be included in the protocol on completion of public discussions of 2009 proposals of participants who have confirmed their status”, said the speaker. He added that 76% of the proposals and comments on the project were submitted by citizens electronically in the public discussion information system.

50 people contacted the technical support of the information system website for advice. Only 4 complaints were about difficulties in submitting proposals, now they are solved.

Today, every citizen of the city who is registered in the UIAS can go to the public discussion site and get acquainted with the accepted proposals and comments. Also, each participant in public discussions who submitted a proposal or comment on the draft General Plan will be able to see his proposal accepted or rejected in his personal account, and find out the reasons for the decision.

Public discussions of the updated General Plan of the city started in Kazan on July 29. Until August 1, citizens could leave their comments and suggestions on the website, as well as in the Department of Architecture and Urban Planning of Kazan.