During a full-scale war, the Kyiv City State Administration (KCSA) decided to approve the Detailed Plan for the Reconstruction Territory of a Part of the Voskresensky Industrial District. We are talking about the intention to give the go-ahead to large-scale development (mainly housing) of 115.9 hectares of land on the left bank of the capital. In particular, they want to allow the construction of a new residential complex of eight houses on the territory of the Kyivmetal JSC base (its co-owners are surrounded by the odious developer Vladislava Molchanova) and the legalization of the dubious Freedom residential complex from Kyivmiskbud. The public and some deputies of the Kyiv City Council are against it, because the residents of the Voskresenko and Raduzhny microdistricts will face deepening transport problems and a lack of social infrastructure because of this. In addition, the DPT project already traditionally contradicts the current General Plan of Kyiv.
As became known KVOn February 2, 2023, the commission of the Kyiv City Council on urban planning, architecture and land relations postponed consideration draft decision “On approval of the DPT for the reconstruction of a part of the Voskresensky industrial district in the Dneprovsky district of Kyiv” (No. 08 / 231-144 / PR dated January 30, 2023).
The subjects of the submission of this document were the Deputy Chairman of the Kyiv City State Administration (KSCA) Petr Olenich (in the collage on the right) and the Department of Urban Planning and Land Resources of the KSCA.
During the consideration of this issue at a meeting of the “land and urban planning” commission, several deputies insisted on its transfer. The deputies substantiated this position, in particular, by the fact that they simply did not have time to get acquainted with all the materials of the DPT, because they received the agenda of the commission meeting and the document only on January 31. The head of this commission, Mikhail Terentiev (UDAR faction), agreed with such arguments and advised the deputies to communicate with officials from the Department of Urban Planning and Architecture of the Kyiv City State Administration and the developer of the DPT (Kyiv Project Group LLC) in order to resolve all controversial issues.
At the same time, some members of the “land and urban planning commission” opposed the approval of the said DPT project in general. Among them is the deputy Alexander Mishchenko (faction “European Solidarity”), who in the last VIII convocation of the city council headed the same commission (like no one else knows that such DPTs are approved only to serve the commercial interests of “friendly” developers. – KV). His arguments can be summed up in three words – “out of time”. In addition, according to Mishchenko, due to the situation in the country, developers do not have funds, so they still will not be able to implement this DPT in the short term.
“The public has a lot of questions (before this DPT). And I think that developers should study them in more detail. Especially now, when we are fighting the Russian horde, I believe that it is inappropriate to develop DPTs and vote for them. You know that there are a lot of unfinished projects in Kyiv, which is connected with economic issues. Therefore, I believe that the funds that developers, according to the DPT, plan (spend) on the construction and sale of apartments should still be directed to our defense and support of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Now is not the time to consider these detailed plans,” Alexander Mishchenko emphasized.
However, other members of the commission did not accept such arguments, and therefore Mishchenko’s proposal to “not consider” this document was not even put to a vote.
What is provided by the DPT
The territory, which should be included in the specified DPT, has an area of 115.9 hectares and is limited by avenue. Brovarsky, ave. Liberators, blvd. Perova, ave. Alisher Navoi, st. Rainbow and st. Chelyabinsk.
The city authorities declare that the approval of this document will help “restructure and streamline the industrial and communal territory”, which is located within this area, for its “further polyfunctional use.” Such an initiative in the DPT project is explained, in particular, by the fact that most of the enterprises located within these limits have outdated and worn-out fixed production assets, their premises are rented out, as well as a “reduction in the supply of labor resources”. In this regard, the city authorities traditionally want to create in this area a new residential microdistrict with a full range of services, which should be included in the existing residential areas (probably, we are talking about neighboring residential areas. – KV) and combined with the green areas of the city. Thus, this territory will be “humanized” – while no one lives there.
The DPT developers propose to place the specified residential microdistrict on the territory of Kyivmetal CJSC (metal depot at 1-9 Liberty Ave. – KV). The total area of this residential development should be 12.61 hectares. The DPT project stipulates that the specified housing microdistrict should consist of eight houses with built-in and attached public premises on the first floors. The detailed plan also provides that a public zone with recreational space and parking lots for temporary storage of cars should be organized along the front side of this residential development.
The project of this DPT also takes into account the construction of a multifunctional complex (BFC) with public and residential premises at the intersection of Brovarsky and Liberator Avenues, which has already been put into operation (according to the law, this should not happen without an approved DPT. – KV). We are talking about the 25-storey residential complex Freedom, which was first built under the flags of Ukrstroy, and then Kyivgorstroy. In total, the DPT project provides for the construction of 3.3 thousand apartments, in which more than 6 thousand people will live. In addition, according to the DPT project, on two sites (cadastral numbers – 8000000000:66:264:0010 and 8000000000:66:264:0033, area – 0.39 and 0.53 ha, respectively) it is planned to build two BFK with an overweight of use ” hotel” and “hotel with office space”, respectively.
The design solutions of this DPT also provide for the construction in this area of a general educational institution of secondary education for 24 classes (720 seats), two preschool institutions built into residential buildings with a total capacity of 200 seats, as well as the placement of short-stay groups for preschool children with a total number of 34 places in a multifunctional complex with public and residential premises at the intersection of Prosp. Brovarsky and Liberators. In addition, the city authorities planned that multi-storey garages with a total capacity of 1,564 cars, as well as parking lots for 1,564 cars, should be built in the area as part of the project DPT.
“Kyivmetal” want to build skyscrapers LCD Freedom
As for the road infrastructure, the city authorities declare their intention to build the so-called. “meridional highway Troyeshchyna-Osokorki”, which should unite all areas of the left-bank part of Kyiv. However, the deadlines for the completion of this project are not indicated in the draft detailed plan – we are talking about “construction for the future.” Also, the city leadership plans to implement the first phase of the construction of the left-bank approach to the long-suffering Podolsko-Voskresensky bridge crossing, as well as its connection with the street. Alisher Navoi, part of which should be included in this DPT. They want to provide for the completion of the construction of the left-bank approach with the reconstruction of Alisher Navoi Street for a billing period of 20. At the same time, in the case of the construction of this interchange, the developers of the DPT refer to an unapproved document – they say, these works are provided for by the Master Plan Kyiv, which has not even been officially submitted for consideration by the city council.
What’s wrong with this DPT
It should be noted that KV constantly writes about the urban chaos that rules in Kyiv at the suggestion of the subordinates of the mayor Vitaliy Klitschko. During his tenure, the Kyiv City Council has already approved several dozen DPTs that do not meet the current General Plan of Kyiv and clearly aim to enable certain developers to legally build new commercial real estate in a certain area or legalize illegal construction that has begun. The new DPT project is no exception.
In November-December 2021, the Department of Urban Planning and Architecture of the KSCA spent public discussion and public hearings on the project “DPT for the reconstruction of a part of the Voskresensky industrial district in the Dniprovsky district of Kyiv”. Officials collected comments and suggestions from the public and provided their responses. There were more than enough claims for this project.
So, the architect Sergey Dyuzhev sent his remark regarding the fact that in the draft of this DPT there is an illegal reference to the decision project of the General Plan of Kyiv, not a valid document. According to Dyuzhev, “any non-corrupt court recognizes this development as illegitimate.” In turn, the deputy of the Kyiv City Council Yuri Fedorenko (The Servant of the People faction) in a letter to the officials of the Kyiv City State Administration indicated that this DPT contradicts the current General Plan of the capital and the legislation of Ukraine. It is understood that detailed plans can only detail the provisions of the current General Plan of Kyiv without changing the functional purpose of the territory, but for some reason the KSCA decided otherwise.
Public activist, member of the political party “People’s Power” Oleg Simoroz in his address expressed the opinion that the approval of this DPT legalizes the Freedom Residential Complex, which was built on the basis of illegal urban planning conditions and restrictions (MCD) for design. Most likely he meant, that the land plot under this residential complex is intended “for the construction, operation and maintenance of a retail and office center”, and the MOU were issued by the Department of Urban Planning and Architecture of the Kyiv City State Administration for the design of the construction of a BFC with residential and public premises.
Oleg Simoroz also drew attention to the fact that DPT does not have “a normal justification for providing social infrastructure” – we are talking about polyclinics and hospitals. In addition, the activist pointed out that this DPT provides for the construction of residential buildings without taking into account the load on the transport infrastructure. In particular, he noted that now there are huge traffic jams on Brovarsky and Liberators avenues and in the area of the Levoberezhnaya metro station, but the developers of the DPT did not even note the calculation of the capacity of these transport arteries.
Problems with transport and the street network were also noticed in the Dniprovsky district state administration in Kyiv. They reported that the existing transport network cannot withstand the current load, the Troyeshchina-Osokorki highway will be built at best in 20 years, and “with the current intensive development, improvement of the transport infrastructure is not planned for 5-7 years.”
At the same time, the DPT materials indicate that in fact, not two large residential complexes, but at least three will be built on this territory. So, in January 2022, BSK Ukraine LLC asked the developers of this DPT to take into account in the document the intention to build the two above-mentioned sites with cadastral numbers 8000000000:66:264:0010 and 80000000000:60 the reconstruction of existing buildings into a residential complex with built-in non-residential premises. And although the developers of the DPT only partially took into account such a request, allowing the construction of the above BFK there, the plans of the developers are more than eloquent, because under the guise of “multifunctional complexes” ordinary residential buildings are often built in the capital, in which it is simply impossible to “register”.
Also, people’s deputy Bogdan Yaremenko (the Servant of the People faction) opposed the approval of this DPT – however, it seems that he did not send his comments to the KSCA, limiting himself to the relevant message on Facebook. He called on his colleagues – the Servant of the People faction in the Kyiv City Council – we quote, “use every opportunity and prevent the barbarians from planting another pig building“.
“Obviously, a few thousand extra cars and a few thousand new residents is a significant additional burden on the already overcrowded and overloaded bridges. This is loading onto the transport system. But the implementation of this plan will also worsen the quality of all communal services in the areas of old buildings on Raduzhny, Voskresenka, Lesnoy, and Bykovnya. It’s just that there are no new opportunities for water and electricity supply, drainage. There are no new children’s schools, kindergartens, clinics, hospitals. In my firm opinion, the approval of this DPT for the new mass construction of the left bank is criminal and unacceptable, at least until the KSCA shows the public a realistic plan for solving the problem of transport, building a subway to Troyeshchina, solving the problem of education and medicine. Until we see a plan for the reconstruction and overhaul of water supply for the entire left bank of Kyiva,” wrote Bogdan Yaremenko.
Who is interested in the large-scale construction of Rainbow and Voskresenka “Kyivmetal”
According to the analytical system Youcontrol, JSC “Kyivmetal” (until 2012 – ZAO Kyivmetal) was registered in the capital in February 1996. The head of this company is Evgeny Gorbach. As of Q4 2021, the owners of large blocks of shares of Kyivmetal JSC were Yaroslav Shvets from Kiev (43%), LLC AMC Business Garant (24%) and OOO Stolitsa Group (24%). The ultimate beneficiaries of this joint-stock company are the above-mentioned Yaroslav Shvets (43% share of the authorized capital) and Tatyana Rebrova, a resident of Kyiv (42% share of the authorized capital).
The Youcontrol system classifies Kyivmetal JSC as a Mirimsky family group, which unites 46 companies engaged in the field of real estate rental, tourism, Internet providers (“Smart Media”), gambling, etc. The key person of this group is Viktoria Mirimskaya, an entrepreneur, wife of the late ex-Nardep of Ukraine of the 2nd, 4th and 7th convocations Lev Mirimsky.
The latter was elected all three times to parliament from constituency No. 2 in the now occupied Autonomous Republic of Crimea and was known, in particular, as the leader of the Soyuz party, which focused on the inhabitants of this peninsula. Among other things, this political force set as its tasks the entry of Ukraine into an interstate union with Russia and Belarus, the federal land structure of our state and the equal status of the Ukrainian and Russian languages. After the annexation of the peninsula, Lev Mirimsky was in no hurry to condemn the plans to seize the Kremlin and declared literally the following:A referendum was held in Crimea. I think it’s fair. Many people disagree on its legality, but this issue is complicated, I would not want to get into jurisprudence“.
At the same time, Kyivmetal JSC is obviously associated with other famous people. So, according to Youcontrol, the co-founder of the specified joint-stock company, Stolitsa Group LLC, is related to group of companies of Vladislava Molchanovawhich informally includes 73 companies operating in the field of construction and real estate.
The main asset of this group is the development company Stolitsa Group, one of the largest residential real estate developers in Kyiv. The key person of the specified group and co-founder “Stolitsa Group”is the aforementioned businesswoman Vladislav Molchanova (in the collage on the left). Formerly various sources called its key financial donor of the capital office of the party VO “Batkivshchyna” and partner odious businessman Denis Komarnitsky, whom the public considers “looking around Kyiv.” It is with the person of Molchanova that the construction of a residential complex for 8 houses is associated within the framework of the implementation of the specified DPT – on this emphasized attention capital blogger Vladimir Bondarenko.
According to the LUN real estate portal, Stolitsa Group has in its portfolio 15 projects of residential complexes in Kyiv, both built and under construction. Among the most famous projects of this developer is Varshavsky Plus residential complex. How informed KV, for the sake of this development, the city authorities, having approved the relevant DPT, significantly compacted the Vinogradar residential area, and the State Architectural Inspectorate allowed about 12 thousand above-standard residents to settle in these houses, which created a significant shortage of social infrastructure. Also now, Stolitsa Group is completing the construction of three LCDs of the infamous Arkada Bank. As KV reported, for this the company actually received a “green light” from the city authorities to develop 176 hectares of land in the capital’s Osokorki, which is actively opposed by the local community.
In addition, the companies in the Stolitsa Group orbit intend to build up the land of the Pushcha-Voditsa agricultural complex on the Minsk massif, for which, in June 2021, the Kyiv City Council approved the corresponding DPT. The metropolitan public opposed the implementation of the provisions of this detailed plan, and in accordance with its requirements, the Kyiv lawyer Oleksandr Kucheryavy initiated a court case to cancel the city council’s decision to approve this DPT. In support of his claim, he, in particular, indicated that this detailed plan contradicts the General Plan of Kyiv, because the design decisions of the DPT provide for a change in the functional purpose of individual plots – agricultural land (as indicated in the General Plan) should become the territory of a multi-storey residential building (this is provided GPT). Alexander Kucheryavy couldn’t achieve an appeal against this DPT, but there is still a chance for the case to be considered in the court of cassation.
Recall, the Department of Urban Planning and Architecture of the KSCA since November 1, 2016 heads Alexander Svistunov. The work of this structural unit from April 2, 2021 is controlled by the aforementioned Deputy Chairman of the Kyiv City State Administration Petr Olenich.
Mykhailo Terentiev has been heading the Kyiv City Council Commission on Architecture, Urban Planning and Land Relations since December 8, 2020. This body consists of 24 deputies.
Ivan Kulik, translation Skeleton.Info
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