The municipal council in Burgas adopted a report which provides for the development of a project to amend the detailed development plan in the “Vazrazhdane” district. This is a step towards the construction of a multi-storey car park in this residential area. Such a facility, according to the administration, would solve some of the car traffic and parking problems in this central area of the city.
The topic sparked long debates in the chamber of the local parliament, with different opinions being heard.
The first to speak was Evelina Mihaleva from GERB, who expressed the opinion that the report will become a topic of pre-election debates.
“We have been talking about these parking lots for 6 years. So long ago, the construction of the first one was supposed to start, but then, at the request of the citizens, we stopped. After that, the desire to build one was shared by colleagues from PP SEC, who had found a plot of land and a project, but there was no funding, although they had a good political representation in the parliament. Now it is important that we move to the first step towards the construction of such parking lots, because Burgas is a rapidly developing city that is already a tourist destination and festival capital.
“Vazrazhdane” was one of the first neighborhoods where builders wanted to build cooperatives in the days when there were no clear parking rules. Thus, instead of 1 house, which had one car, a cooperative with 10 families was emerging, each of which now has at least 2 cars. All the garages became shops and this made it extremely difficult to park in the neighborhood. The blue zone somewhat solved the problem. A parking lot won’t do either. But you have to start somewhere.
This is the situation not only in Vazrazhdane, but also in many other neighborhoods. I call for support for this report, which is now only about changing a PUP, not about the construction of a parking lot. Then we will see the projects that will be prepared. Constantly in committees it is said that we cannot increase the Blue Zone and it is necessary to take measures. Here, now we move on to the construction of parking lots. In every European city there are multi-storey ones. Let us become like them” she said.
Arch. Dilyan Georgiev from PP-DB described the report as surprising. Not because a problem started to be solved, but because it had to be solved efficiently and lawfully.
“I draw attention to the written report and the reasons that Art. 135, para. 5 of the ZUT categorically states that when developing an official project there must be an explicitly issued order. Such is not present in the reasons for the report, which means that some municipal officials may wake up tomorrow and want to build a spaceport. The problem could have been solved if attention was paid to the contractor and the property. It is truly municipal, but the Municipal Council is in charge of the municipal property. While looking at the program for the disposal of municipal property, I did not see this plot at all there.
I will say again that Burgas architects who chose to live in Burgas, give their work and skills, are directly crossed out of the report. I asked that it be removed on the grounds that the proposal was considered before an expert panel. The report itself is commendable, but the commission was told that there will be 80 parking spaces in this parking lot. However, the need for “Revival” is for 4000 of them. Part of a street is being removed to make a ramp to a garage. I read all the territorial concepts from Dimitar Nikolov’s first term as mayor, and nowhere is there any mention of multi-storey parking in “Vazrazhdane”.
My parking lot looks pretty open and there’s no way to convince me there won’t be noise. Now the whole “Revival” is being improved and there will be a Blue Zone I think. That way we will have a lot of solutions for parking without looking into people’s windows. There is a crying need for social housing. Let’s not make life difficult for people. I call for the report to be withdrawn and for the experts to speak on it” he said.
His statement was answered by Zivko Petrov, director of the Directorate of Municipal Property, who stated that no one has any intention of disposing of anything in favor of a third person other than the municipality.
“It’s a complete mystery to me how the Management and Disposition Program gets involved because it has nothing to do with the intentions to build a multi-storey car park. I can see no reason why we shouldn’t get cars off the street if we have the opportunity. It’s also a complete mystery to me how social housing fits. I have told committees and sessions that there is nothing social about someone wanting to be accommodated in a social apartment in “Vazrazhdan”. Let’s not burden the problem with more construction, since now a solution is being sought for precisely this” he shared.
Vladimir Pavlov supported Petrov and addressed the advisors from PP-DB that the project is not ready, but you have already started thinking about what will be built.
The director of the Territorial Planning Directorate, Nikolay Tsotsomanski, said for his part that the Municipal Administration is as open as possible to debate and discussion about all possible projects.
„We have been chewing on the issue of parking lots for 6 years now. We have discussed the possibility of degeneracy in many such places. This proposal is made after a survey. We are still at the PUP admission stage and then it will be examined by an expert council. Only then will we come to an agreement with the institutions for noise, dust and others. The Union of Architects is a long-standing partner of the Municipality of Burgas and our doors are open 24/7 for everyone. Now we are solving a very painful problem of the Burgas district” he said.
The municipal councilor Ivan Ivanov said that one of the main tasks of everyone in the hall of the OBS is to solve people’s problems.
“We must take advantage of every opportunity to build additional parking spaces. Some of our fellow citizens will not like the idea, it will bother them with the noise or something, but when others drive for 15-20 minutes where to park then does it not increase the noise? Let’s see how the project will look and then make a decision” he turned to the councillors.
Mayor Nikolov also commented on the report and expressed his belief that all councilors want to improve the quality of life of the residents of “Vazrazhdane”.
“This can happen when parking spaces are increased. For not 6, but at least 8 years, we have been moving the issue of providing more parking spaces. The seats on “Maria Luisa” are not secure, because there the property is owned by the state in the person of NKZ, who are against it and we are now arguing. It is our initiative to make concept projects for multi-storey parking lots in the free spaces that were intended for residential construction. The first one was ready and we went with the drawings and showed them to people on the street. Then there was a tension, because the elderly were categorically against, and the young – for.
Then I decided to comply, and after the topic divided people on the street, we withdrew the proposal. The elderly’s reasons were that there would be fumes, a lot of noise and their comfort would be disturbed. There were other initiatives, with even MPs from Continuing the Change coming to me and urging local and national authorities to come together and ask for funding for multi-storey car parks. We were ready to develop projects in other areas as well. After that, we started widely informing the citizens, and there was even an idea to hold referendums. We personally conducted face-to-face surveys with the people who live on site. Our municipal officials collected 1,680 surveys. 80% of the participants wanted the municipality to do everything possible to degenerate parking spaces, regardless of how – above ground, underground. This location we are discussing now has the most approval.
I’m the person who wants as many people as possible to speak on the subject, especially when it comes to specialists. Now there is a conflict between our municipal architects and the Chamber of Architects. I hold the opinion of both the one and the other. Last week I even met with representatives of the Union of Architects and we discussed what we are going to do with Dupkata, where the polls with Burgazlii are starting soon.
In 10-15 years, with the development of technology, there will be no internal combustion cars left. There will be hybrids and electrics. Then there will be no noise, but it will be more expensive for the next municipal councils to build multi-storey car parks. Make a move and comply with the demands of the residents of Vazrazhdane, who want the municipality to act. A parking lot is a drop in the bucket and won’t solve people’s problems, but it’s part of the way. That way we will have the confidence to approach second or third place” Mayor Nikolov told the councillors.
#approved #step #construction #multistorey #car #park #Vazrazhdane
