According to the Town-planning Code (Article 28) of Russian Federation Public Hearings are:

Obligatory procedure

that precedes the acceptance of town-planning law projects (such as city master-plans, etc.);

2 3
Further regimented in each Municipality

Regimented by the Town-planning Code a) terms b) objects of consideration c) participants;

according to their

according to the town-planning legislation of this Municipality.

Who is authorized to organise Public Hearings?

(Statute on the procedure of conducting Public Meetings)

CITY TOWN-PLANNING AND LAND USE COMMITTEE

City Town-planning committee (or council) was created in 2009 for coordinating the interaction between Moscow Administration and Moscow citizens upon town-planning and land use issues. First head of the City Town-planning committee is V. Resin former First vice-mayor and head of the Construction&Architecture department (2001-2011). In 2010 the City Townplanning council was renamed as City Town-planning and Land Use committee (or council) and Moscow Mayor S. Sobyanin is now the head of this committee**. Each Administrative District of Moscow also have its own town-planning and land use committee

*From the ofcial City Government Website: http://mos.ru/en/press-center/ news/index.php?id_4=21523

&
DISTRICT TOWN-PLANNING AND LAND USE COMMITTEE

Who can participate in Public Hearings?

(Moscow Town-planning Code, Article 68, Part 2)

1. Moscow citizens who live or work on the territory where public hearings are held or the representatives of these citizens organizations and communities.

2. Tenure holders and property holders whose property (land plots, infrastructure objects, housing and non-residential premises) is located on the territory affected by changes that require public hearings.

3. Municipal deputies of Municipalities affected by changes that require public hearings.

4. Moscow City Duma deputies.

Public Hearings must be conducted in the following way:

(Moscow Town-planning Code, Article 68, Part 5)

1. The announcement of Public Hearings: publication and distribution of the announcement

2. Exhibition of the project

3. Conducting Public Hearings

4. Writing the report on the process of Public Hearings

5. Issuing conclusion report on the results of Public Hearings

Feedback:
(Moscow Town-planning Code Article 68, part 3 & Article 69, Parts 1-3)

1
Every participant has a right to comment on and contribute suggestions to the discussed project, master plan, etc. in aordance with the established procedure. All comments and suggestions contributed by the participants of Public Hearings have to be recorded in aordance with the established procedure (Ar. 68, p.3).

2
All the projects subject to Public Hearings procedure have to be send to Municipal Councils (Municipalnoe Sobranie) 30 days prior to the announcement of Public Hearings. In 15 days upon receiving the projects Municipalities have to send their comments and suggestion on the projects to the authorized town-planning organization (authority) or a counterpart council.*

3
All the residents, tenure & property holders, etc. whose property or other rights can be violated by the implementation of the town-planning or construction project can send their comments and suggestions to the City Government, ity Town-planning committee** or a district-based townplanning council. * Do Municipal Councils have to send their feedback before the Public Hearings?? Or it means that after the receiving of the projects Municipalities have only 15 days for holding a Public Hearing, processing the the feedback and sending it to the authorized town-planning authorities or counterpart councils?

Terms of Public Hearings

(Moscow Town-planning Code, Article 68, Part 4)

Announcing the holding of Public Hearings

Issuing the report*

START
Master plan of Moscow, Land Use and Development Rules

FINISH
2 months (min) 4 months (max)

Changes of Master plan or Land Use and Development Rules

1 month (min) 2 months (max)

all other projects 2 months (max)

*Public Hearings must to be followed by issuing the report on the results of the Hearings.

Projects subject to Public Hearings

(Moscow Town-planning Code, Article 68, Part 1)

Sad outcomes of the Public Hearings for the city Master Plan untill 2025* Public Hearings for the Master Plan held in 2009 showed that: 1 . Av e r a g e c i t i z e n w h o d i d n t h a v e architectural training couldnt understand a thing in plans exhibited. 2. Master Plan wasnt presented as an entity but as 125 pieces (for 125 administrative districts) that were not connected to each other. 3. Policy that prescribes a right to comment on a project or make suggestions only to those who ofcially live or have a workplace on the discussed territory is inefcient. 4. The feedback mechanism is unclear. A citizen doesnt have a guarantee that his opinion will be taken into consideration. 5. Master Plan isnt based on environmental or health statistic. Hence it doesnt contain the information that is in interest of the citizens.

Master Plan of Moscow and changes of the existing Master Plan.

Projects subject to Public Hearings

(Moscow Town-planning Code, Article 68, Part 1)

New York 1916 ? Moscow 2012 ! Land Use and Development Regulations (LUDR) are designed as Moscow analogue of NY zoning law that will prescribe strategical use of a certain territory or a plot within this territory. This legislation will regulate the type of land use, density, height, special architecture and construction requirements, etc. Public hearings are a mandatory procedure for the LUDR project. LUDR will consist of 2 parts: land classier with the list of zones and the established procedure of their implementation and a map of the entire territory of the city showing the boundaries or zones and sub-zones. The nishing of the law project has been postponed few times already. The next deadline is Dec 31 2012.

Land Use and Development Regulations (LUDR) and changes of the existing LUDR.

Projects subject to Public Hearings

(Moscow Town-planning Code, Article 68, Part 1)

Moscow says no to Sir Norman Foster In March 2008 at the exhibition in Cannes E. Baturina wife of ex-mayor Y.Luzhkov and the head of development company Inteko presented the project Orange-House designed by Fosters bureau to replace existing building of the Central House of Artists (CDKh) on Krymsky Val. Implementation of the project would destroy the existing Museon Art Park that surrounds CDKh. A wave of criticism towards the project raised in media; many artists, architects and citizens united against the project. Fosters project was soon removed from the agenda, but plans for the development and reconstruction of the CDKh territory persisted. On Feb 24 2009 public hearings were conducted. Article 68 Part 1 of Moscow Town-planning code prescribes that only local residents can participate in public hearings which made the CDKh one of the most important cultural institutions of Moscow a local case. But on the day of hearings many inuential supporters of CDKh organised a picket in front of the building so nally they got a permission to speak at the hearings. Citizens and experts all voted against the development project but it didnt automatically cancel the project. At the same time there is legal basis for the project cancellation based on the results of Public Hearings: Results of the Public Hearings are the basis for revising the project or declaring it unviable (inappropriate). Moscow Town-planning Code: Article 4, Part 1 The success (temporary at least) of the CDKh preservation is a rare case for Moscow. The key probably is in citizens consensus on the subject, wide support of the expert community and broad media coverage.

Territorial and strategical planning projects that promote development, reconstruction or reorganization of residential areas, green spaces, territories within historical and cultural preservation zones.

Project for the development of the territory of CDKh and Museon park on Krymsky Val by N. Foster. 2008

Projects subject to Public Hearings

(Moscow Town-planning Code, Article 68, Part 1)

Lawful designs A site plan is a set of designs showing a) the boundaries of the planned construction objects and infrastructure; b) the key characteristics of the property such as density and height, etc.; c) features of the facilities social, transportation and technical required for the territory development; d) materials for substantiation of the chosen design*. This detailed site plan is subject to consideration at Public Hearings; ratication by the executive authorities of Moscow Administrative districts or other executive authorities of Moscow responsible for town-planning policies (such as City Town-planning and Land Use Committee, etc.) and approval by Federal executive authorities if federal property is locate don the site*. In the absence of RUDR, the decisions on the site are taking by authorities individually (of course, its the compliance with the Master Plan should be taken into consideration rst) which creates the room for the authorities for abusing their powers. Site plan. *Moscow Town-planning Code, Article 39 and 40.

Projects subject to Public Hearings

(Moscow Town-planning Code, Article 68, Part 1)

Cutting the pie

It used to be a common practice in Moscow (actually, on almost all the ex-USSR territory) to build residential block housing without setting boundaries to the land plot. At the same time land surveying is a pre-requisite for condominium creation. The purpose of the survey is establishing real estate and property right for those who want to organize themselves into a TSZh (Homeowners Association). According to the Housing Code (Article 36, 37, 44) residents of the multi-family block houses have a right for the allocation of land that is attached to the house (to create collective, not private property). The allocation process is very complex and require creating a land surveying plan for the plot subject to allocation and neighbouring territories. In Moscow, money for land surveying expertise are withdrawn from the city budget, but the waiting period can be up to 8 years. Many citizens who want to organise a TSZh and allocate the attached land plot have to use private surveying agencies and pay for the surveying expertise themselves. But practice shows that even in this case local authorities are quite reluctant to let residents allocate the plots and often abuse the fact that Housing Code (as well as Land Code and Townplanning Code) doesnt contain clear denition of the house land plot and its size. *Moscow Town-planning Code, Article 39 and 40.

Land surveying plan.

Projects subject to Public Hearings

(Moscow Town-planning Code, Article 68, Part 1)

Fighting the invisible enemy

Inll construction a term that doesnt exist in any Land or City-Planning Code (which make it invisible for the legislation) but widely use by media to describe a type of construction that violates the right to comfort living of those who live in the neighboring buildings. In addition to that inll construction can potentially result in decreasing the price of the surrounding property. At the same time, proposals for inll construction are often presented by the developers as a necessary improvement of the locality, e.g. a shopping area within walking distance, etc. The City had a special purpose program for the development of the built-up areas (of a block or microrayon) that is designed to protect the living standards of the residents: Resolution No.872 on the targeted investment program of the Moscow City Goverment 2008-2010: The Architecture Department and the Town-Planning policy, Development and Reconstruction Department shall not propose inll construction in built-up areas of Moscow (clearly, it is no longer valid). Moscow Town-planning Code rules prescribe that the interested parties should be informed about the planned construction. But apart from the declarative provisions there is no way to ensure the rights of the citizens to obtain this information and express their opinion other that public hearings*. The consequences for the public disapproval are also stated quite obscurely: The results of public hearings are the basis for revising the proposed plan or declaring it inviable (inappropriate). So according to the law, development projects that havent received citizens support are not cancelled immediately. It is very important to legally determine the consequences of public disapproval of decisions made by authorities to use a site for construction. To what extend do the decisions of public hearings bind on executive authorities?

Site plans for development of land plots inside built-in areas residential blocks or microrayons.

Project for the development of the territory in Troparevo-Nikulino, Lomonosovsky pr. by the development company Stroy-Trace, April 2012

Projects subject to Public Hearings

(Moscow Town-planning Code, Article 68, Part 1)

Confusing terms, unfair policies Permitted land use refers to the types of activities or construction legally permitted on a certain land plot. According to the Land Code (Article 7), there are 7 categories of land (zones): agricultural, residential, industrial, forest area, etc. Permitted land use corresponds with the land type as particular or specic corresponds with the general, hence the twain shall always be in accordance. However, an exhaustive list of permitted land use cant be found in Russian legislation. Another discrepancy is that the Land Code doesnt determine who establishes permitted use of an individual land plot*. Apart from the permitted land use term there is also conventionally permitted land use (Town-planning Code, Article 37). Again, there is no clear denition of what is conventionally permitted land use and how it differs from the permitted land use. But it is the change of conventionally permitted land use that requires the consideration at Public Hearings. According to the Town-planning Code (Article 39), a stakeholder can apply to the City or District Town-planning and Land Use Committee to get permission for the change of the conventionally permitted land use of the plot. Town-planning and Land Use Committee must organise public hearings and then take a decision based on the result of the public hearings. Decisions on the change of the category of the land also require conducting of public hearings. But as in Moscow only local residents can participate in public hearings, it automatically switches important city or even region-scale issues (such as changing the zone from forest area to transport infrastructure Khimki forest case) to the local level that creates many opportunities for the manipulation of results. Technically, the allocation of industrial land for development projects in Moscow require public hearings as well. But who are going to be the participants?

Permissions for the change of conventionally permitted land use of a land plot or infrastructure object or for deection from the established boundaries of construction/reconstruction.

Industrial areas. warehouses and thermal power plants of Moscow.

Where Public Hearings are held?

(Moscow Town-planning Code, Article 68, Part 1)

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

In each Municipality*; in each Municipality affected by changes

Before the expansion there were 125 Municipalities called Municipal Districts (Municipalnyi Okrug) whose borders matched with the borders of Administrative Districts (Rayon) and all of them had the same powers; starting from July, 1st of 2012* when Moscow will ofcially expand there will be 3 types of Municipalities with (slightly) different powers: 1. Municipal Districts (125) 2. City Districts (Gorodskoy Okrug) former City Districts of Moscow Region (2) 3. Settlements (Poselenie) former city or rural settlement of Moscow Region (19)

In each Administrative district (Rayon); in each Administrative district affected by changes

In the Administrative district affected by the development

In the Administrative district affected by the development

In a sub-division (block, microrayon) of the Administrative district affected by the development

*From the ofcial City Government Website: http://mos.ru/en/press-center/news/index.php? id_4=21523

In a sub-division (block, microrayon) of the Administrative district affected by the development

In a sub-division (block, microrayon) of the Administrative district affected by the development