In today's article from the series "Tuesday Mornings for the Construction Industry," we continue our analysis of the simplified procedure for adopting or amending a local spatial development plan resulting from the changes introduced by the Act of July 7, 2023, amending the Act on Spatial Planning and Development and certain other acts (the " Amendment "), which introduces fundamental changes to the Act of March 27, 2003, on Spatial Planning and Development (the " Act "). We remind you that this procedure will be regulated in Article 27b of the Act.
The amendment has not yet been signed , so we don't yet know the exact date it will come into force, but it will likely be in early September. As we indicated, the amendment was submitted to the President on July 11, 2023, who has 21 days to sign it – publication usually occurs a few days later. Most provisions will come into force 30 days after the date of publication. We will be writing about the transitional and final provisions in the coming weeks, so we invite you to follow our articles now.
Last week we described the cases in which the new procedure for adopting and amending a local plan, called simplified ( #161 ), will be applied, today we will focus on what these simplifications will consist of.
The first step is for the head of the commune , mayor, or city president to announce that they will begin preparing or amending the local spatial development plan using the simplified procedure . This means that the simplified procedure will not involve the municipal council adopting a resolution to begin preparing the local development plan . This is a significant change, as the initiative and procedure lie within the sole authority of the head of the commune.
The announcement shall be made in the manner specified for public consultations (Article 8h, Section 1 of the Amendment), i.e., by announcing: (i) in the press; (ii) by posting in a visible place within the area covered by the local spatial development plan or at the office's headquarters; (iii) on the municipality's website and the Public Information Bulletin (BIP); (iv) in the manner customarily adopted in the given municipality. The announcement must include information that such proceedings are being conducted under a simplified procedure.
The second step is to prepare a draft local plan or its amendment, together with a justification and an environmental impact forecast, if required, and after its preparation, to make it available in the Register, together with the justification and an environmental impact forecast, if required.
At the same time, the commune head, mayor or city president:
a) applies to the voivode for consent to the use of the simplified procedure – meaning the voivode, not the municipal council, will be the body confirming the applicability of the simplified procedure. The voivode has 14 days from the date of the request for consent to do so, and failure to submit a position within this timeframe is deemed to constitute consent. The voivode will refuse consent if the draft local plan or its amendments do not meet the conditions specified in Article 27b, paragraphs 1–3 – meaning the statutory requirements for the use of this procedure are not met.
b) requests the opinions referred to in Article 17, point 6, letter a) and the arrangements referred to in Article 17, point 6, letter b) – there are no exceptions to this, and the mayor is therefore obliged to obtain the opinions and arrangements from all entities, as in the normal procedure. However, when requesting an opinion or arrangement, the mayor is obliged to inform about the application of the simplified procedure.
The deadline for making arrangements or presenting opinions and arrangements as part of repeated activities is 14 days from the date of requesting an arrangement or presenting an opinion.
c) announces in the manner specified in Art. 8h paragraph 1 the commencement of public consultations and conducts public consultations – however, the Amendment allows them to be limited only to collecting comments and conducted for a period of at least 14 days.
The 14-day deadlines are intended to significantly shorten the time required to obtain opinions, agreements and conduct public consultations, which will allow for faster adoption or amendment of the local plan.
In the next step, the commune head, mayor or city president introduces changes to the draft local plan or amendments thereto resulting from: (i) opinions obtained, (ii) arrangements made, (iii) public consultations, and then, to the extent necessary, repeats the actions referred to in point 3 (making available in the Register), point 4(c) (requesting arrangements) and point 5(b) (making arrangements), and if the changes introduced in accordance with point 5 concern the location of a project that may have a significant impact on the environment, he or she also repeats the actions referred to in point 4(d) (announcement and conduct of public consultations) and point 5(c) (public consultations). Then he or she again makes the draft local plan or amendments thereto available in the Register, together with its justification and the environmental impact forecast, if required, and the report referred to in Article 8k, paragraph 2 of the Amendment.
Only after the above steps have been completed, the commune head, mayor, or city president submits the draft local plan or its amendments to the municipal council, along with the report referred to in Article 8k, paragraph 2 of the Amendment. The justification also includes an explanation of the reasons for using the simplified procedure.
It is worth noting that if the voivode refuses to give consent or the draft local plan or its amendments after the amendments have been introduced do not meet the conditions for applying the simplified procedure, the commune head , mayor or city president shall perform the activities referred to in Article 17 points 6–14 of the Act , and shall seek opinions and approvals to the extent necessary if this results from the introduction of the changes referred to in paragraph 4 point 5. This provision therefore states that although the project should not be processed under the simplified procedure, it may be further processed without a resolution of the municipal council on commencing the preparation of the plan (Article 14 paragraph 1 of the Act), but with the application of the normal procedure from the moment of obtaining opinions and approvals to the presentation of the project to the municipal council with a list of comments.
Of course, to the extent not regulated in Article 27b paragraphs 1-11, the provisions of Article 14 paragraphs 6-8, Article 15, Article 16, Article 19-21, Article 23, Article 24, Article 25 paragraph 2, Article 26, Article 28 and Article 29 of the Act shall apply accordingly to the simplified proceedings.
In summary, an analysis of the regulations leads to the conclusion that the purpose of the simplified procedure is to significantly shorten the procedure for adopting or amending a local plan, which should be viewed positively. Given the narrow range of circumstances in which the simplified procedure can be applied, these may not be common, but they can allow for changes to be implemented more quickly than under the standard procedure.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.
Legal status as of July 24, 2023
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