THE GOVERNMENT, municipalities and town planning experts yesterday got on board with to restore the latest zoning plan for Nicosia after the Supreme Court had declared it null and void.
On a technicality, the top court last month found that the 2006 plan was invalid and ordered that the previous plan of 2000 take effect. The change could wreak havoc on the property situation in the capital, since altering the designated use of land directly impacts its value.
Thousands of people would be affected by the change in status. Construction contractors meanwhile were on tenterhooks, worried that building permits may be frozen until authorities sorted out the mess.
The decision also meant that at least some of those landowners who got a raw deal under the most recent zoning plan would benefit when it reverted back to the older version.
But at a crisis meeting yesterday, called by Interior Minister Neoclis Sylikiotis, the municipalities of the Greater Nicosia area, the Town Planning Council, and the Scientific and Technical Chamber (ETEK) agreed that the best way forward was to abide by the court’s decision but work toward reinstating the 2006 zoning regime.
“It was a unanimous decision,” Sylikiotis told the Mail later. “We shall abide by the court’s decision, but at the same time, using legal means, we shall seek to bring back the 2006 version.
“As soon as possible,” he added.
In short, authorities will be micromanaging the 2000 plan, making changes wherever necessary through administrative actions so that ultimately the plan resumes its 2006 form—or close.
And municipalities pledged to uphold a moratorium on new challenges to the plan until the work is done, Sylikiotis said.
The process should take approximately two months, he added. According to standard procedure, the government will publish the extant plan, which in name will be called the 2000 plan but in essence—it is hoped—will be the 2006 plan that was annulled by the Supreme Court.
“This is the best way forward. No one would have gained if the 2006 plan had been scrapped,” said Sylikiotis.
“Let us say that land previously marked as a green zone had suddenly become available for development, meaning the owner there would benefit. But it wouldn’t matter, because we [the ministry] could declare this area a white zone to stop that from happening,” explained Sylikiotis.
White zones are areas on which no development (residential or otherwise) may take place for a period of one year.
The construction business was yesterday holding its breath.
“If the previous zoning plan were to take effect, it would be devastating to the industry, no question,” said Sotos Lois, head of the Association of Construction Contractors.
The impact would be delayed, because typically it takes municipal authorities six or more months to process and approve (or not) a building permit. But sooner or later the blow would come, and hard, on an industry already reeling from falling demand due to the economic crisis.
“So maybe not today, but a few months down the line. No building permit means no business, which means we’d have to start cutting back and laying people off. And this at the worst possible timing,” said Lois.
Asked what needed to be done, he remarked: “We want the 2006 plan back yesterday.”
