Barutana plan goes to public survey on August 13 — Center residents invited to comment

The draft Detailed Urban Plan for Urban Quarter J 05 – Barutana will be open for a public survey from Thursday, August 13, until September 14. Residents and businesses in the Municipality of Center and neighboring areas covered by the plan are invited to submit comments, proposals and opinions during that period.

Where to see the plan and how to participate

The draft will be displayed at Kocho Racin elementary school, where survey forms can be completed in person every working day from 08:00 to 16:00. The forms will also be available online via the Center Municipality website and through the e-urbanizam information system (www.e-urbanizam.mk).

“No decision is only mine, nor only the Municipality's or the Council's. Decisions must be made together with citizens. Therefore I call on all residents to take part in the public survey, because every opinion is important and every proposal deserves attention. Only through open dialogue can we make decisions that will be in the interest of the citizens,” says Mayor Goran Gerasimovski.

A public presentation of the draft plan is scheduled for September 3 at 12:00 in the premises of the Center Municipality (barrack 6).

The plan has already drawn criticism. The civic initiative Chance for Center says the draft is not consistent with the General Urban Plan and fails to address the risk of erosion in the area; they also warn the document allows substantial new construction. “They brought a draft plan according to which, alongside the existing 15 buildings, another 25 buildings will be constructed, each of which can have 4 residential units (so in each could live 4 families and have at least 4 vehicles). A draft plan by which the municipality will spend more money on cutting a road through the hill and cutting down decades-old forest that should protect the city, and on relocating a main water pipeline to enable construction of haciendas from the funds it will collect from communal fees (meaning all Center residents will pay for this clearing of part of the mountain at potential own expense). And for that plan Gerasimovski says that it introduced order!?” the group reacted.

Mayor Gerasimovski rejects those claims, saying the new draft reduces the total permitted building volume by about 33%, limits maximum coverage to 40%, and allocates at least 40% of the area to greenery. He adds that the draft was prepared in accordance with the General Urban Plan and based on expert analyses, feasibility studies and field investigations that took into account the terrain's susceptibility to erosion.

Photo: press material from the event