Petition No. 22/173046-ep to President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy demanding to veto draft law 5655 gained more than 25 thousand votes in less than two days, according to its page on the website of electronic petitions to the President of Ukraine.
"The new urban planning norms under the guise of liberalization of the urban planning sphere and acceleration of construction actually unleash the hands of large developers, who now do not have to undergo inspections from local authorities. Inspections of construction and documentation under this project can be carried out by private firms, and the role of chief architects of cities in this process is significantly limited. In addition, it is proposed to create the "Urban Planning Chamber" under the Ministry of Regional Development, whose mandate is very similar to the notorious "Tender Chamber", - the author of the petition Vladislav Protsenko wrote.
He also stressed that if this draft law were to be adopted, the process of chaotic development of Ukrainian cities and the destruction of historical monuments would be accelerated.
"On 13 December, after 18:00, MPs supported the reform without discussing and taking into account the comments of different parties. This contradicts the position of public organizations, media, and the Association of Ukrainian Cities, which signed a joint statement. The petition gained votes in fact immediately after the vote. This is how quickly society reacted to neglecting the key rules of democracy and parliamentarism. We demand from the President not to sign the draft law and send it for revision. It is impossible to rebuild Ukraine without the participation of citizens, ignoring public discussions of the project in the committee. It cannot be so that developers have everything and citizens have nothing," said Vita Dumanska, leader of the CHESNO Movement.
At the meeting on 13 December, the Verkhovna Rada voted as a whole the Law on Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine on Reforming the Sphere of Urban Development.
Critical comments to the draft law were submitted not only by the CHESNO Movement but also by the Main Legal Department of the Verkhovna Rada, which emphasized that several provisions are unconstitutional. Other organizations also provided their warnings and suggestions.
Leading NGOs and mass media appealed to the MPs with a demand not to support the project: Movement CHESNO, Anti-Corruption Action Centre, DE JURE, Automaidan, Nashi Groshi, Dzerkalo Tyzhnia, Glavkom, and the Association of Ukrainian Cities.
Before the voting, the Association of Ukrainian Cities (AUC) categorically opposed the draft law No. 5655 on changing the urban planning system. The heads of Ukrainian cities, villages and settlements are convinced that the law "leads to monopolization of the construction market, deprives the public and local authorities of the opportunity to influence illegal developments, leads to compensating unauthorized developers from the local budget, violates the rights of land owners and destroys the decentralization achievements".
The AUC statement was signed by about 40 mayors of Ukrainian cities. Among them are Kyiv Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko (Head of the AUC), Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovyy, Khmelnytskyy Mayor Oleksandr Symchyshyn, Chernihiv Mayor Vladyslav Atroshenko, Ternopil Mayor Vitaliy Nadal, Rivne Mayor Oleksandr Tretyak, Vinnytsia Mayor Serhiy Morgunov, Zhytomyr Mayor Serhiy Sukhomlyn and others.