Five-storey buildings will not be built in the old town of Alytus Singer’s word

The administration of the Alytus city municipality refused the intention to allow the construction of five-storey buildings on Margis and Birutė streets in the old town. This was done after taking into account the comments of the townspeople, the conclusion of the meeting of the Kaunas Regional Council of Architects and the official report of the prosecutor of the public interest department of the Kaunas District Prosecutor’s Office.

The story of the construction of five-storey buildings, which caused a lot of passion and received controversial assessments, gained momentum when, during the adjustment of the general plan of the city of Alytus, the Alytus company “M5R”, engaged in investment activities, submitted to the municipality a request to allow the construction of five-storey buildings instead of two-three-storey buildings on Margios and Birutės streets.

During the consideration of the corrections to the city’s general plan, the people of Alytus, who are indifferent to the history of Alytus, called to preserve the old town with its characteristic height of buildings and to prevent the construction of residential houses higher than two or three stories. Evaldas Ramanauskas, the architect of the Institute of Architecture and Construction of the Kaunas University of Technology who is preparing the changes to the general plan of Alytus, Doctor of Science, the project manager for the adjustment of this plan, Evaldas Ramanauskas, also agreed to this provision, suggesting that the municipal administration take into account the opinion of the residents, because, otherwise, if five-story residential buildings are built in the old part of the city, the environment of the historical part of the city, the landscape, the structure of the spaces here would be affected.

According to dr. E. Ramanauskas, the drafters of the corrections to the general plan must follow the Territorial Planning Laws and must protect the public interest and cannot compromise their reputation as architects or deteriorate the urban quality of the historically valuable territory.

Arūnas Grigaitis, the chief specialist of the department of architecture, urbanism and land management, who at that time acted as the chief architect of the municipality, openly stated during the corrections hearing that he did not approve of the construction of five-story residential houses on Birutė and Margios streets, and that he did not give the task to the drafters of the general plan correction to change the plan. To do this after receiving instructions from the director of administration, Gintaras Rakaitis.

G. Rakaitis explained such a decision to “Dainava kozi” in the fall as the problem of residential housing in Alytus – young families who come with higher incomes do not have a place to live.

The Kaunas Regional Architecture Council stated that the construction of five-storey buildings would significantly change the image of this area, would become an invasion of the old part of the city, would destroy the urban architectural value of this unique area, and therefore proposed to oppose the increase in height in the old part of the city.

When the situation regarding the construction of five-story houses in the old town became public, the Public Interest Protection Department of the Kaunas District Prosecutor’s Office became interested in it. After the investigation, the prosecutor of this department made a decision to warn the municipality of Alytus city not to violate legal acts in the stage of preparation and implementation of the decisions of the general plan of the city of Alytus. In addition, if residents’ opinions are rejected and reasoned answers are not provided, the principle of local self-government – mandatory coordination with the public – will possibly be violated.

And after that, during the opposition hour of the municipal council meeting, G. Rakaitis claimed that the municipality seeks to increase the height, and the prosecutor’s office has not prohibited anything.

However, something changed the opinion of the municipal leaders regarding the construction of five-story houses in the old town – the organizers of the adjustment of the general plan of the city of Alytus received a letter signed by G. Rakaitis, in which the plans to increase the height in the block of Birutė-Margios street intersection are rejected and the contractual works are requested to be completed in as short a time as possible.