Pursuant to the information on the website of the Institute of the General Plan of Kyiv City, a municipal organization of the executive body of the Kyiv City Council (Kyiv City State Administration) ("Institute"), work on the development of the draft of the Kyiv City General Plan has been completed. It was planned that the draft of the new Kyiv City General Plan would be released for public discussion in March of this year. However, due to the spread of the coronavirus and the introduction of restrictive measures, this did not happen.

It is expected that the draft of the new Kyiv City General Plan will be introduced for public discussion after the quarantine measures have been relaxed. In this case, the draft of the new Kyiv City General Plan will be published on the website of the City Planning and Architecture Department of the Kyiv City State Administration. Public hearings will continue for a period specified by the City Planning and Architecture Department, but for no less than one month.

In the meantime, the draft of the new Kyiv City General Plan is already available for review on the website of the Institute and, currently, the Institute is carrying out work to verify the functional designation of the respective territory and to confirm the possibility of locating a particular facility thereon.

We recommend that the owners and users of land plots located in the city of Kyiv, as well as the owners of the facilities who have not yet formalized land ownership or lease of the land underlying their facilities, should take the following actions:

• Review the basic drawings of graphic materials of the draft of the new Kyiv City General Plan and verify whether the functional designation of the respective territory envisaged thereby is in line with the designated use of the relevant land plot specified in the land title document and the State Land Cadastre.  
   
• If the discrepancy is revealed, apply to the Institute to verify the functional designation of the respective territory and confirm the possibility of locating a particular facility thereon. In case of a positive decision by the Institute, the draft of the new Kyiv City General Plan will be amended. 

Why is it important?

The current Kyiv City General Plan was approved in 2002 and has not been changed since then. Therefore, it does not reflect the changes in the functional designation of the respective territory that occurred after the change of the designated use of the land plot, which took place after 2002. Hence, there is a risk that such changes may not be reflected in the draft of the new Kyiv City General Plan.

Please note that, according to Article 16 of the Law of Ukraine "On Regulation of City Planning Activity," a new Kyiv City General Plan will be developed based on the data contained in the State Land Cadastre. However, if after the approval of the new Kyiv City General Plan by the Kyiv City Council it does not comply with data in the State Land Cadastre, the use of the land plot for city development requiring city planning conditions and restrictions will only be possible according to the functional designation envisaged by the new Kyiv City General Plan.

Please contact us if you require further detail in connection with this matter.

Additional notes

This LEGAL ALERT is issued to inform Baker McKenzie clients and other interested parties of legal developments that may affect or otherwise be of interest to them. The comments above do not constitute legal or other advice and should not be regarded as a substitute for specific advice in individual cases.