The Ministry of Spatial Planning, Urbanism and State Property (MDUP) has not completed the administrative procedure, or decided upon the request of interested citizens to annul the first-instance decision, even ten months after an appeal was filed against the decision of the chief city architect of Tivat to grant approval for the conceptual design of a new large residential building in Donja Lastva.
Locals claim that the building will drastically disrupt the ambiance of the settlement, which consists of small family houses, and will negatively affect their quality of life. In the meantime, construction of the building has begun and is ongoing according to a conceptual design that neighbors who live in nearby smaller family houses in the VII Quarter settlement, as well as part of the professional community, believe is contrary to the provisions of the current DUP “Donja Lastva”.
These are urban plots UP 255 and UP 256, which have previously been the subject of increased interest from residents of that part of Donja Lastva because, as far back as 2017, they claim, the conceptual design for the construction of two large residential buildings connected by a ground floor was completely inappropriate, with their total area almost twice as large as the maximum prescribed by the DUP, and the number of floors and height of the buildings also exceeded the permitted parameters.
The chief state architect, who was also responsible for Tivat, approved such a conceptual design at the time, but after tumultuous opposition from citizens and the public to such a concept, construction according to that conceptual design was never realized.
In the meantime, from 2019 to 2024, new conceptual designs were developed that did not receive the approval of the Chief City Architect (GGA). However, last year, the GGA gave approval to the latest conceptual design, which designed two rows of four residential units each. Acting GGA Aleksandar Živaljević at the end of April last year gave approval to the conceptual design of a new residential complex at UP 255 and UP 256 Donja Lastva, which envisages the construction of two residential buildings with a total gross construction area of 980 square meters on plots with a total area of 1.419 square meters. The number of floors of one building is planned to be P+1 with a maximum height of 8,75 meters, while the number of floors of the other is Su+P+1 with a designed maximum height of 12,75 meters. The investor, the company "GPN gradnja" from Tivat, which is also the owner of these plots, was given approval for the phased construction of this complex, with the position of the GGA Tivat that the conceptual design developed by the company "Golden Project" from Podgorica fully meets the parameters of the DUP "Donja Lastva", that is, that the design and materialization of the new buildings fulfills the issued urban and technical conditions.
"Their number of floors is defined as P+1, but their height is almost 13 meters, which is strange if we know that the Urban Planning and Technical Conditions prescribe a height of 14 meters for a maximum number of floors above ground of four. Again, no free-standing residential buildings have been designed, one on each UP. The DUP 'Donja Lastva' envisages rows only on plots that are 12 meters wide or less, within the scope of the DUP there are only two such locations clearly defined by the UP numbers, and these are not UP 255 and UP 256. The unification of individual plots into one DUP is also envisaged in only one place, and these plots are defined by the numbers of urban plots, and UP 255 and UP 256 are not among them. The DUP in the construction rules for family housing defines "Buildings to be placed as free-standing on the plot, and only one main building on the plot", said the residents of Donja Lastva, architects Zoran and Marija Nikolić.
They requested and were granted the status of an interested party in the administrative procedure for determining the conceptual design for the construction of new facilities. They point out that the designer titled the conceptual design as a "residential complex", and the Tivat Municipal Government also gave its consent to the "residential complex".
"It would seem that they are also aware that these are not freestanding residential buildings. For the owners of the surrounding plots, this is not just a matter of form; freestanding residential buildings located in the middle of the plot and surrounded by undeveloped green areas, and when they have a floor, no longer have a negative impact on their plots as formally lower buildings that reach the plot border," say the Nikolićs, who, together with several other interested neighbors, filed a complaint with the relevant Ministry in April last year, requesting that the consent of the Tivat GGA be annulled.
"The appeal has not been resolved for ten months, and in the meantime the investor has begun construction according to the disputed conceptual design," the dissatisfied citizens stated.
They stated that Donja Lastva, and the entire Tivat, have recently become a testing ground for enormously large-scale housing construction for the market, despite extremely poor utility and infrastructure equipment, numerous spatial restrictions and at the expense of the need to provide adequate green spaces and other public facilities.
The Ministry confirmed to "Vijesti" that they have not yet completed the procedure regarding the locals' complaint.
"The Ministry acted upon the appeal of the citizens of Tivat dated 22. 4. 2024, filed against the decision of the GGA Service of the Municipality of Tivat dated 5. 4. 2024, and in that sense determined the results of the investigation procedure, which it delivered to the parties in the procedure by its act dated 3. 2. 2025. In this way, one of the basic principles of administrative procedure is respected, the right of the parties to be heard, which enables them to participate in the procedure in order to determine the facts and circumstances that are of importance for making a decision. In addition to the applicant, i.e. the investor who received consent from the GGA Service, the parties in the procedure are also third parties who have expressed a legal interest in joining the procedure in question and who have been recognized as parties in the procedure," stated the department headed by Minister Slaven Radunović.
They point out that the interested parties filed an appeal against the decision of the first-instance body, the Tivat Municipal Administrative Court, requesting that it be annulled.
"The second-instance procedure is still ongoing. Upon notification of the results of the investigation, the parties have the right to submit a statement within the legal deadline of eight days. After receiving the statements, the Ministry will review them and, based on the established facts, issue a decision. Therefore, the matter in question is ongoing and will be resolved as soon as possible after receiving the statement on the results of the investigation," the Ministry said.
Architects must also take into account the rights of "ordinary" citizens
Architects Zoran and Marija Nikolić claim that after everything that has happened in the last seven years with these two urban plots and the plans for construction on them, "the question of the professional ethics of architects who knowingly create conceptual solutions that are not in accordance with the prescribed urban and technical conditions and thus mislead investors and oppose them to their neighbors who are rebelling, defending their right to the sun and a quality life, inevitably arises."
"The question is also how our colleagues, the ''chief'' state and municipal architects, are giving in to these projects. Where is the ordinary citizen, the owner of old-fashioned, small houses who lives in them contentedly and peacefully, what about the rights of that ordinary citizen, which these architects should also take into account. The value of our exceptional space today is expressed exclusively by the price that investors are willing to pay for it, it is valorized through housing construction and the price of its square meters. In this and such an order of things, the ''ordinary'' citizen in his modest homes is a nuisance, it is not in accordance with the ''modern'' architecture of much larger structures that are arrogantly pushing into until recently peaceful and healthy neighborhoods. At the same time, one of the tasks of good urban planning is to create settlements that will provide their citizens with security, a sense of belonging and an environment that enables physical and psychological stability. Settlements and cities change over time, technological progress and rising standards bring new requirements in construction and changes in the appearance of settlements. In order for people to accept them, they must be gradual and must bring quality to their lives as well, and not just interest the builders," Nikolići points out.
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