Legal Highlights for Real Estate – August 2024
The parliamentary bill to amend the Aviation Law.
The parliamentary draft law on amendments to the Aviation Law of 11 July 2024 (“Project”), aims to enable the issuance of zoning decisions around airports. It is currently at the first reading stage in the Infrastructure Committee.
The Project envisages the abolition of the obligation to adopt a local spatial development plan in areas covered by the airport’s master plan (“PGL”). PGL is an airport’s strategic document that defines its business and spatial conditions, including the area covered by the plan, the permissible dimensions of building and natural facilities, and the concept of spatial development with the development of zones around the airport.
According to a new line of rulings by the Supreme Administrative Court, PGL covers not only the immediate vicinity of the airport, but also wider areas related to restrictions arising from aviation safety requirements. As a result, the obligation to adopt local spatial development plans applies to a much larger area than before, complicating the implementation of investments in these areas. In cities, PGL now covers vast areas of significant economic importance where investments are underway, effectively inhibiting all investments in these areas and negatively affecting the development of agglomerations.
The draft introduces a fairly simple solution by eliminating the obligation to enact a local spatial development plan for areas covered by PGL, while at the same time increasing the powers of the President of the Civil Aviation Authority, by which he will play a significant role in agreeing with the city on the conditions for development in the area, guaranteeing the safety of the airport and eliminating the detrimental effect on applicants of indefinitely suspending proceedings.
The Project’s authors ensure in the explanatory memorandum that the bill will lead both to an improvement in the situation of citizens, who are currently deprived of the right to change land use, as well as business entities planning investments in the vicinity of the airport, and the airports themselves, whose attractiveness increases due to the development of their immediate business environment.
Amendment of the Ordinance on technical conditions to be met by buildings and their location.
On 15 August 2024, the Ordinance of the Minister of Development and Technology dated 9 May 2024, amending the Ordinance on technical conditions to be met by buildings and their location (“Ordinance“), came into force. This is another amendment to that ordinance that came into force this month – on 1 August the “Stop the Patodevelopment” package, which we detailed in the October edition of Legal Highlights, came into force. This time the changes are not as drastic as in the aforementioned amendment, but they are still significant.
The Ordinance is intended to allow greater use of wooden elements in the construction of buildings and also to clarify issues related to the location of a building on a building plot. This is a continuation of the process of organizing the rules of construction and bridging the discrepancies of interpretation in the current regulations.
It is the intention of the Ordinance’s authors that the decision to expand the use of wood in construction expands the choice of materials when bringing in new buildings, thus supporting entrepreneurs. Wood, being an ecological material, is expected to support sustainable development, contributing to the popularization of building solutions that are more environmentally friendly and often cheaper than their non-ecological substitutes.
