The Draft Regulation on the manner of determining the requirements for new development
The consultation, opinion and public consultation stage of the Draft Regulation of the Minister of Development and Technology on the manner of determining the requirements for new development and land use in the absence of a local zoning plan (the “Draft”) has ended. On 26 April 2024, consultation reports were published on the website of the Government Legislation Center.
The need to issue a new regulation stems from an amendment to the statutory authorization contained in Article 61 point 6 of the Act on Spatial Planning and Development of 27 March 2003, as implemented by the latest amendment dated 7 July 2023.
In accordance with the amendment to the statutory authorization, the Draft includes provisions on the manner of determining in the zoning decision: the minimum and maximum aboveground building intensity, the maximum building intensity, the share of building area, the width of the front elevation, the height of the building, the geometry of the roof (angle of inclination and layout of roof slopes), the minimum share of biologically active area and the minimum number of parking spaces. The Draft also specifies the method of determining the size of these parameters based on urban planning analysis.
Comments made at the opinion stage of the Draft concerned, among other things, the definition in the regulation of the terms i.e.: „convergence of functions” and „convergence of uses,” definition of criteria for convergence of functions and convergence of uses of real estate, adopted methods for determining individual parameters (in particular, parking spaces), or waiving the determination of minimum development intensity. The following changes are particularly noteworthy: the concept of „convergence of functions” was replaced by the concept of „same function.” Objections were also raised to the provisions on the determination of building lines and the establishment of building heights (among other things, the introduction of an additional parameter – the height of the edge of the elevation was postulated). However, most of the comments have not been taken into account or have been partially taken into account.
Before the Draft is sent to the relevant minister for signature, it must go through the approval of several Government Committees and the Law Commission.
Amendment to the Act on Waste
The Ministry of Climate and Environment has prepared a draft of the Act on Amending the Act on Waste and the Act on Amending the Act on Waste and Certain Other Acts (the “Draft”), which was published on the website of the Government Legislation Center on 29 April 2024. One of the assumptions of the proposed amendment is to make it easier for local governments, among others, to segregate construction and demolition waste.
According to the Project’s justification, it is expected that the amendment to the regulations will increase the amount of selectively collected waste, thereby improving its quality, which will then result in greater opportunities for its management in recovery processes, particularly recycling. This should result in a reduction in the number of grounds for disposing of construction and demolition waste in a manner that does not comply with the provisions of the current law (illegally accumulated waste). According to Article 101a of the Act on Waste, which was added by the amendment, the system for sorting construction and demolition waste is, in principle, based on the segregation of such waste at the place where it is generated. However, representatives of the construction industry and the waste management industry have put forward demands for relaxing the requirement to collect and collect selectively at the place of waste generation, based on the difficulties that arise in practice in complying with this requirement. Accordingly, the Draft represents a compromise between the requirement to ensure that the generator of construction and demolition waste is obliged to segregate the waste generated and to ensure further management of construction and demolition waste, in accordance with the objectives of establishing a system of separate collection in the EU Waste Directive, and the possibility of delegating the performance of this obligation to other entities.
The Draft is currently at the opinion stage.
