If the proposed amendments to the Spatial-Urban Plan (SPA) of the Capital City of Podgorica were to be adopted, it would also mean the end of the moratorium on construction under the Gorica hill and pave the way for fifty new buildings to be built in the immediate vicinity of that protected area, for about 5.000 inhabitants.
This was announced yesterday at the meeting "Concrete does not breathe, but we must", which was organized by an informal group of citizens in the Mediterranean Garden in Gorica.
"About 5.000 new residents are planned in the area of the air line of about a kilometer... On the stretch from the Gymnasium 'Slobodan Škerović' to the Vezir bridge, you would no longer even be able to see the hill," said the participants.
Civic activist Zoran Bojović, Sonja Dragovic i Milica Vujosevic from the Non-Governmental Organization "Kana/ko ako ne arhitekt", presented to the gathered how the hill of Gorica could look in case the Detailed Urban Plan (DUP) "Nova Varoš 2" is adopted, but also referred to the current amendments and additions to the PUP The capital city of Podgorica.
They pointed out that the public has been talking about the importance of protecting Gorica for years, and said that, with the announced changes, "the planned construction of a much larger area and number of floors compared to the existing, also bad plan", and that "the situation is even worse than which is now”.
While reminding that a few years ago, the citizens contributed to stopping the plan to build a tunnel through Gorica, that thanks to the dedication of a group of people, a "Mediterranean Garden" was arranged and formed in Gorica a few years ago, they said that a similar engagement is necessary today:
"If there was a fuss before, it's a fuss now".
The government made the decision to prohibit construction at the foot of the Gorica hill and in the contact zone in March 2020, until the adoption of the general regulation plan of Montenegro.
The decision to amend the decision on the development of Amendments to the PUP for Podgorica (September 2024), the ban on construction under Gorica is provided for "making changes to that planning document."
Missed opportunities
Zoran Bojović said that the reason why everything bad has been happening in Gorica for years is that in the year when the forest park was declared, 1995, it was neglected to harmonize the relief borders of the hills with the relief of that area.
"The same mistake was repeated in 2022, when the Nature Monument 'Gorica Forest Park' was declared. All those who at the foot of the hill over time took what did not belong to them, or to put it another way - all the looting of state property, that was all legalized through the DUP, and now the DUP is a priority," he said.
According to Bojović, in 1995, the area of the forest park was 140, and now it is 120 hectares of space:
"The entire contact zone of the hills, all those meadows, everything that really protected Gorica, which had been green areas since 1995, was destroyed."
Milica Vujošević from the NGO "Kana/ko ako ne arhitekt" said that they have been analyzing the currently valid DUP "Nova Varoš 2", which also includes the Gorica hill area, as well as the changes and additions to that planning document.
Through several examples, she stated what the current DUP looks like and how any changes would affect the area of the city around the Gorica hill.
"The currently valid plan envisages a gross construction area of about 140.000 square meters, while the new changes have doubled that area exactly. Compared to the previous plan, which was also bad, in this plan the buildings got one to three floors more," Vujošević said.
Additionally illustrating how the area around the hill of Gorica could look like, if the plans, whose changes are underway, were adopted, she also mentioned the plot between the building of the Institute for Emergency Medical Assistance and the "Slobodan Škerović" Gymnasium. On that plot, as she said, on which there is now a cafe, the construction of a central business building of 1.600 square meters on four floors (P+3, ground floor, plus three floors) is planned.
"On a small plot, on the corner, near the roundabout, we will have a building with four above-ground floors".
After presenting other possible changes in the plans, Vujošević said that "all in all, the floors have grown, the buildings have grown, new uses have been created."
"We are in the process of amending the PUP, we should not continue with it either, but we should do everything from scratch. We say it all the time, but who hears us", she said.
Questionable status of natural monument
Jovana Janjušević from the Center for the Protection and Study of Birds (CZIP) said that in the case of the adoption of the DUP "Nova varoš 2" the procedure was violated.
"When you work on the DUP, you refer to a higher order document in its elaboration, that is the currently valid PUP, not this one with amendments, which does not contain this. They bring an illegal document," she said.
Gorica, added Janjušević, is significant from the point of view of biodiversity, and now its status as a natural monument is being questioned.
"We have parks that are a dead letter on paper, everything we have protected we can attack, we can build, we can do whatever we want. Institutions that manage protected areas cannot give a negative opinion that is legally binding, and that is an absurdity," said Janjušević.
A few days ago, the Council for the revision of planning documents of the Ministry of Spatial Planning, Urbanism and State Property gave a negative opinion on the draft DUP "Nova varoš 2" and returned the plan to a new procedure in order to act on the objections that were submitted.
The draft of that planning document covers an area of 43,8 hectares, which is bordered by Gorica hill from the north, Ulica 6 from the west, Ulica 19. decembar from the east, and the City Stadium from the south.
In addition to other things, the Council pointed out that the construction of new buildings in the protective zone of the Gorica Forest Park should be reconsidered from the aspect of the protection regime defined by the natural monument protection study.
In mid-December, the Capital City of Podgorica demanded the withdrawal of the draft PUP for Podgorica, because its adoption would mean the continuation of the devastation of the city in private interests.
From the Ministry he leads Slaven Radunović they previously announced that they would no longer organize public hearings on amendments to the PUP, because, as they stated, they had organized two. The first discussion was postponed, because the hall was too small to accommodate all the interested citizens, and the second was interrupted, because the new hall could not accommodate all the interested citizens either.
"By canceling the public hearing for the Podgorica PUP, while at the same time the expert public disputes the 'Nova Varoš 2' DUP, the Gorica hill remains unprotected, threatened by concreting in the already rebuilt protective zone of the Nature Monument, Gorica Forest Park. "Brda Gorica is threatened by a 'Podljubovic scenario' with further destruction of nature and overcrowding with dehumanized residential buildings," the Center for Civil Liberties (CEGAS) announced recently in this regard.
She repeated a similar attitude yesterday Marija Popović Kalezić from that NGO and to those gathered in the "Mediterranean Garden":
"Both times, neither formal nor legal conditions were met for this public discussion to be held adequately, because it would be logical for the city plan to be presented to us within the narrowest nuclei, i.e. local communities, so that all of us who live in a certain part clearly we know what will happen in our neighborhood, to say whether we want it, whether we need it and whether someone has asked us something about it".
From the event, an invitation was sent to all interested citizens and the professional public to get involved in making decisions related to planning documents, in the specific case those concerning the hill of Gorica and its surroundings.
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