Reanimation Package of Reforms Open Letter on Kyiv City General Plan - 2025

The officials of Kyiv City State Administration and the Ministry of Regional Development promote the adoption of the new Kyiv City General Plan – 2025. The document legalized all scandalous land acquisition, which were not yet included in the General Plan for 2020, currently in power. The open letter of the Open Society Foundation, which was also supported by the Reanimation Package of Reforms experts and leading Ukrainian think-tanks, has focused on the General Plan issue.

The letter stressed the violation of the applicable laws. On October 27^th the Architecture and Town Planning Council recommended Kyiv City Council to adopt the new General Plan. The mentioned meeting was held at 11:00 am on the day after the parliamentary elections, when the attention of the general public, the journalists and the activists had been focused primarily on the votes count. Moreover, the Council’s Minutes omitted multiple remarks on the General Plan, issued by the experts and the opponents of the adoption of the new document. The final part of the Minutes was also reflected selectively. The experts are ready to provide session’s video recording, which was substantially different from the Minutes.

The General Plan 2025 was first developed by Leonid Chernovetsky’s team. It aimed at legalizing the land schemes of the ex-mayor. While in opposition, the current mayor Vitaliy Klytschko has repeatedly criticized the idea of adopting the General Plan-2025.

THE OPEN LETTER ON VIOLATION OF APPLICABLE LAW IN CONSIDERATION OF KYIV CITY GENERAL PLAN 2025

To the President of Ukraine

Petro Poroshenko

the Prime Minister of Ukraine

 Arseniy Yatsenyuk

OPEN LETTER

on the violation of applicable law

in consideration of Kyiv City General Plan - 2025

We, the members of the legislative councils at various levels, community activists and experts of Reanimation Package of Reforms, the residents of Kyiv

being steadfast to the rule of law, openness, transparency and accountability of the government, aware of the responsibility for the future of Kyiv as the capital of Ukraine and the civil rights,

stating the gross violations by officials of the Ministry of Regional Development, Construction and Housing and Utility Services (MRD) and Kyiv City State Administration (KCSA), namely:

• the requirements for publicity while discussing and making decisions on Kyiv city planning,

in particular, violations of the Law of Ukraine "On regulation of urban development", the Law "On information" and the Law "On access to public information" on informing the public. On October 27, 2014, the Architecture and Town Planning Council was held; it illegitimately dealt with the draft Kyiv City General Plan for 2025

• the provisions of the Article 20 and Article 21 of the Law of Ukraine "On regulation of the urban planning", which governed the activities of the Architecture and Town Planning Council and procedures for public hearings on the urban planning projects at the local level,

in particular, the MRD has violated the norm of the written information provision on the date and place of the Architecture and Town Planning Council 20 days prior to such council and has not provided the opportunity to get acquainted with its sections. It has not provided the opportunities for the discussion of the controversial issues in the General Plan in the City Council and has not sent the necessary documents for review and approval to the ministries and the governmental departments.

The explanatory note and illustrations of the two "brand new" General Plans were significantly different. They did not include the social infrastructure and did not meet the approved Kyiv Development Strategy.

As a result [of mentioned violations] the community has also received the false version of the Minutes of the Architecture and Town Planning Council at the MRD as of October 27^th, 2014. This document did not contain the real resolution on the withdrawal of the General Plan 2025 [from further discussion]!!!, as well as the information about Volodymyr Chekmariov’s address [translator’s note – Mr Chekmariov is the Director the ‘KyivGenPlan’ Institute] on inability of the General Plan 2025 to solve the problems of the capital city and the need to review ALL the decisions.

We, thus, ask you:

1. To control personally the fight against abuse and [initiate] the prosecution of the officials of the MRD and KCSA, which were guilty of violating the laws of Ukraine; to examine the implementation of the Law "On Purification of Power Authorities" in the MRD and the Department of Urban Development and Architecture of KSCA.
2. To create a joint Cabinet of Ministers and Presidential Administration working group for a final decision on Kyiv City General Plan; this would involve NGOs and experts, who neither participated in its development, nor received the funds from the city budget.
3. To take into account the interest of Kyiv community and ensure the right of access to public information on the number and locations of schools, kindergartens, clinics and hospitals, aid stations, points and ways of evacuation, stadiums, sports and children's playgrounds, and other social infrastructure, which was not reflected in the 2025 General Plan and was calculated with the general estimates of residential and public buildings.
4. To support the public expertise of the 2025 General Plan and discuss the development of the city of Kyiv jointly with Kyiv region representatives in terms defining the boundaries for social and economic development of the territories and the corresponding budgets.
5. To promote public hearings on the General Plan 2020 update and the adoption of the 2025 General Plan in each district of Kyiv; promote the expression of alternative views of scholars and experts on urban planning and architecture, seeking to create comfortable living environment for residents of Ukraine’s capital.

The open letter was signed by:

Ivan Sikora, Open Society Foundation

Lesya Shevchenko, Open Society Foundation

Victor Gleba, an expert in the field of urban planning, PhD in Public Administration, a member of the Architecture and Town Planning Council at the Ministry of Regional Development

Volodymyr Shcherbachenko, Eastern-Ukrainian Center for Civic Initiatives

Svetlana Kononchuk, Ukrainian Center for Independent Political Research

Inna Borzylo, Centre UA

Oksana Romaniuk, The Institute of Mass Information

Viktor Taran, The Centre for Political Studies and Analysis

Alexandra Matviichuk, The Center for Civil Liberties

Andriy Solodko, The Center for Society Research

Andriy Skipalsky, The Committee for Bilychanskyi forest conservation, Advocacy Center "Life"