On August 24, 2023, the Act of July 7, 2023, amending the Act on Spatial Planning and Development and certain other acts (hereinafter referred to as the "Amendment") was published in the Journal of Laws, which simultaneously amends the provisions of several dozen other acts. Generally, the Amendment will enter into force 30 days from the date of its publication, i.e., on September 24, 2023, with the exception of certain provisions for which a longer vacatio legis is provided, as described in previous articles #164 and #165.
Due to the fact that the entry into force is getting closer, in today's article we would like to present to you changes in other acts – the most important from the point of view of development investments.
In the Act of 28 September 1991 on forests, in Article 14, paragraph 3, the possibility of designating forest areas in the local spatial development plan.
In the Act of 19 October 1991 on the Management of Agricultural Property of the State Treasury, as a result of the repeal of the provisions concerning the study of conditions and directions of municipal development, there is no longer any basis for analyzing a planning act other than the local development plan when preparing an agreement to transfer land from the State Treasury's Agricultural Property Resource to a local government unit for roads. Consequently, the reference to the study of conditions and directions of municipal development in the Act was deleted.
In the Act of 24 June 1994 on Ownership of Premises , Article 2, Section 1a, removes the reference to a resolution establishing the location of a residential investment. Therefore, the establishment of separate ownership of a separate premises, in accordance with the amended provision, will only be possible in accordance with the provisions of the local zoning plan or the content of a decision on the conditions of development and land development , in accordance with a building permit or a validly filed notification, and in accordance with an occupancy permit or a validly filed notification of construction completion. This provision does not enter into force until 1 January 2026, which is when the lex developer act would cease to apply. We also draw attention to the transitional provision, which indicates that even after 31 December 2025, the current regulations will apply to residential and associated investments. Therefore, the body issuing a certificate of independence of a premises after 1 January 2026, despite the change in the content of the provision, will have the right to issue it also in the case of premises built on the basis of a resolution on determining the location of a residential investment.
The Building Law also removes the reference to resolutions regarding the location of a residential or associated investment in legalization documents. Therefore, in the case of construction requiring a building permit, or in the case of construction referred to in Article 29, Section 1, Points 1-3 of the Building Law, the legalization documents will include: a certificate from the commune head, mayor, or city president confirming the construction's compliance with the provisions of the applicable local zoning plan and other local legal acts, or a decision on the conditions of development and land development, if no applicable zoning plan exists. However, the transitional provision, similar to the one above, allows for the application of the provisions in force on December 31, 2025, to investments implemented based on a resolution determining the location of a residential investment.
In the Act of February 3, 1995, on the Protection of Agricultural and Forest Land, due to the role of the development area and the method of its designation, which will prevent the designation of excessive areas, the existing provisions concerning the designation of a compact development area and the requirement to obtain consent from the minister responsible for rural development to change the designation of agricultural land constituting agricultural land classes I-III to non-agricultural and non-forest purposes if they are located within the development area havebeen abandoned. Therefore, the definition of a compact development area has been deleted from the Act, and a reference to the development area has been added. The minister responsible for construction, spatial planning and development, and housing, in consultation with the minister responsible for rural development, will determine, by regulation, the method for designating the development area, taking into account the needs of shaping spatial order and rational management of agricultural land, including preventing spatial conflicts and dispersal of development.
The Act of 21 August 1997 on Real Estate Management , in connection with the replacement of the study of conditions and directions of spatial development with a general plan, replaced references to the study with references to the municipal general plan as the appropriate document for verifying the planning zone a property is located in. When selecting a property valuation technique, it was also indicated that in the absence of a local plan or a decision on the conditions of development and land use, the valuation takes into account the actual use of the property or the provisions of the municipal general plan.
The Act of April 11, 2003, on Shaping the Agricultural System repealed the provision excluding the application of the Act to real estate located within the administrative boundaries of cities, if a resolution was adopted under the principles set forth in the so-called Special Housing Act. The provision regulating the principles for the National Support Centre for Agriculture to acquire ownership of agricultural real estate located within the administrative boundaries of a city was also repealed. The repealed Article 9a of the Agricultural Support Centre Act granted the National Support Centre the right to acquire real estate if the intended investment result was not achieved within a specified period. This provision applied only to agricultural real estate located within the administrative boundaries of a city and acquired under Article 1b of the Agricultural Support Centre Act, which was also repealed.
In the Act of 23 July 2003 on the Protection and Care of Monuments, due to the fact that, as already mentioned, the provisions concerning the study that defined the areas and principles of protection of cultural heritage, monuments and contemporary cultural assets were repealed, the previous role of the study in conducting and shaping the spatial policy of the commune will be taken over by: the general plan of the commune in terms of determining zones designated for the distribution of areas with specific purposes in local plans, and the development strategy of the commune. In the amended art. 18 re-establishes the list of documents that must take into account the protection and care of historical monuments, i.e. the voivodeship development strategy, the voivodeship spatial development plan, the spatial development plan for internal sea waters, territorial sea and exclusive economic zone, analyses and studies in the field of spatial development of the district, the commune development strategy, the supra-local development strategy, general plans of the communes, local spatial development plans, local reconstruction plans or decisions on determining the location of a public purpose investment, decisions on development conditions, decisions on permitting the implementation of a road investment, decisions on determining the location of a railway line or decisions on permitting the implementation of an investment in the scope of a public use airport.
The Revitalization Act of 9 October 2015 introduced changes related to the conduct of public consultations under the terms specified in the Amendment. It was specified that draft documents subject to public consultation, as well as draft documents submitted to the municipal council and reports, are made available in the Urban Planning Register, which concludes the public consultation process. The procedure for amending the municipal general plan, implementing the provisions of the municipal revitalization program, is conducted in accordance with the provisions of the Spatial Planning and Development Act.
The Act of 20 May 2021 on the protection of the rights of purchasers of residential premises or single-family houses and on the Developer Guarantee Fund was amended to modify the content of the information prospectus in Part III: "Information on real estate and development projects", which was given a new wording specified in the Annex to the Amendment.
Thus, the content of the section concerning information on spatial planning acts and other legal acts in the area covered by the development project or investment task will be modified in the prospectus , where: "Other" should include legal acts on the following matters: concerning the Investment, Accompanying Investments and the area surrounding the CPK, location of the residential investment or accompanying investment, establishment of forms of nature protection or their buffer zones (national park, nature reserve, landscape park, protected landscape area, Natura 2000 area, natural monument, documentation site, ecological use, nature and landscape complex, protection of plant, animal and fungi species), establishment of a protection zone of the direct protection area and the indirect protection area of the water intake, designation of quiet areas in the agglomeration or quiet areas outside the agglomeration, creation of a limited use area, recognition of a monument as a historical monument, determination of the boundaries of the area of the Holocaust Monument and its protection zone, creation of a cultural park, establishment of principles and conditions for the location of small architectural objects, advertising boards and advertising devices, and fences, their dimensions, quality standards, and types of construction materials. However, the section has removed the space for information regarding the study of conditions and directions of spatial development and the local revitalization plan, and in its place has been added a section regarding the general plan of the municipality . Information in this regard, according to the new prospectus template, should include the number and date of the legal act, the name of the authority, and the place of publication.
In the section concerning the provisions of the applicable local development plan for plots or parts thereof located within 100 m from the border of the area covered by a development project or investment task – a field has been added regarding information on the maximum and minimum above-ground development intensity.
In the section concerning the provisions of a decision on development conditions or a decision on determining the location of a public purpose investment for the area covered by a development project or investment task in the absence of a local spatial development plan, the information obligation has been extended to include the need to indicate such parameters as: the minimum percentage of biologically active area, above-ground development intensity and building height.
In the section on Information on planned investments within a radius of 1 km from the area covered by the development project or investment task, the reference to the study of conditions and directions of spatial development has been removed.
In addition to the above changes, due to the extensive and cross-sectional nature of the Amendment, we are already signalling at this point the changes related to the removal of references to the study of conditions and directions of spatial development from many acts and replacing them with references to the general plan, while at the same time indicating the consequences of recognising it by the legislator as an act of local law.
The changes in the scope of application of the so-called lex developer also deserve a separate article, which we cordially invite you to read in September.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.
Legal status as of August 29, 2023.
author:
