City of Moscow approves new land use and construction regulations

The city has approved land use and construction regulations, with the participants in a Moscow Government Presidium meeting passing an appropriate resolution.

The approval of the use of land and construction regulations will go down in history in Moscow’s urban development plans. These regulations are the second most important document after the General Plan for the Reconstruction of Moscow.

“Since November 2016, city residents actively discussed local construction and land use regulations. New approaches were charted, making it possible to retain current housing construction parameters, those of natural territories, including specially protected nature territories, to spur the development of industrial and production zones; naturally, this was done with due consideration for all essential environmental and sanitary standards,” Sergei Sobyanin said.

Local development territories will account for not more than ten percent of the city’s territory.

Main provisions of land use and construction regulations

Land use and construction regulations stipulate the following parameters for the entire city, except Troitsk and Shcherbinka, for which separate documents have been drafted:

• various categories for the authorised use of land plots and permanent facilities;
• maximum parameters for authorised construction and reconstruction of permanent facilities, including construction density, the maximum number of floors, the maximum height of buildings and maximum construction volumes on any specific plot of land.

“Land use and construction regulations are a document guaranteeing transparent urban development solutions in the city. This document aims to retain current construction density levels in most residential areas. At the same time, it creates a favourable urban development environment by tapping into the resources of former industrial zones,” Yuliana Knyazhevskaya, Chair of the City Committee for Architecture and Urban Development, noted.

Maps showing urban development zones demarcate the borders of cultural heritage landmarks and their territories, as well as the perimeters of zones with special environments, including water-protection zones, protected nature landscapes, specially protected nature territories, etc.

Land use and construction regulations were developed on the basis of the General Plan for the Reconstruction of Moscow, taking into consideration the previously adopted urban development decisions, including that of planning permission and land-plot urban development plans.

From December 2016 until March 2017, the city held public hearings on draft land use and construction regulations for Old Moscow. Public hearings on draft land use and construction regulations for newly incorporated territories were held between December 2015 and February 2016. During discussions, city residents submitted over 120,000 remarks and proposals. Authorities analysed them in great detail and heeded the most successful and constructive comments.

“All appeals were reviewed attentively under the established procedure, and the city commission made a well-substantiated response to each remark and proposal,” Ms Knyazhevskaya said.

The foundation of land use regulations

Here is a list of the main urban development planning principles that constitute the foundation of the use of land and construction regulations:

• preserving current construction parameters in residential areas. This is guaranteed by the fact that the regulations contain no other categories of the authorised use of these land plots and do not stipulate any expanded construction parameters with regard to existing facilities;
• developing industrial zones, adapting them for research and production facilities and innovative technologies and stipulating the creation of additional jobs;
• retaining private housing construction. Land use and construction regulations for private housing construction zones stipulate adequate development parameters (density: 4,000-5,000 square metres per hectare, maximum height: 15 metres);
• preserving nature territories, including specially protected nature territories, specially protected green territories, cultural landmarks and their territories;
• reflecting officially stipulated restrictions on the use of land plots.

What do we need land use and construction regulations for?

From now on, any local urban development projects, including construction and reconstruction of buildings and other structures, will only be able to be implemented in line with the parameters of the land use and construction regulations. This document makes it possible to find out whether construction projects are allowed in specific zones and also stipulates maximum construction parameters.

Any urban development project the parameters of which do not meet land use and construction regulations will have to be amended beforehand.

“Now that land use and construction regulations have been approved, everyone will be able to access data on the authorised use of land plots and permanent facilities because these regulations should be posted on the city’s databases,” Ms Knyazhevskaya stressed.

Therefore land use and construction regulations stipulate the following guarantees to city residents and investors:

• objective and authentic data on construction opportunities for every city district;
• protecting the existing urban environment from chaotic and high-density construction (the document’s F index denotes territories that will be preserved);
• preserving the environment and cultural heritage sites ;
• standard rules for making urban development decisions; for example, land-plot urban development plans with parameters meeting the above-mentioned regulations will be issued automatically);
• preventing numerous urban development conflicts;
• the existence of a city development potential, improving the business environment and attracting additional investment. Apart from preserving various territories, the regulations list development territories and parameters of possible construction projects, mostly industrial zones and newly incorporated territories.

“In addition, the approval of land use and construction regulations will make it possible to reduce the administrative barrier for the investment community because, after their approval, the issue of land-plot urban development plans will boil down to obtaining an extract of information from the regulations,” Ms. Knyazhevskaya added.

City-territory balance

Land use and construction regulations that have been approved by the Moscow Government stipulate the following city-territory balance:

Therefore land use and construction regulations list 83 percent of Old Moscow’s territory among protected areas.

Land use and construction regulations and the renovation of five-storey residential buildings

These regulations were drafted pending a decision to compile a new programme for renovating five-storey residential buildings.

The regulations will stipulate amendments for the appropriate residential areas after authorities compile a list of five-storey buildings, due to be renovated.

“Under the new programme to demolish rundown housing, we will discuss residential areas, due to be renovated, after the approval of this programme and the compilation of a list with specific addresses,” Mayor Sobyanin noted.

The document’s provisions

Land use and construction regulations consist of general and territorial sections. The first section includes various texts and stipulates provisions on the procedure for applying regulations and amending these regulations. The second section features texts and graphic materials, includes urban development regulations and maps showing urban development zones on the city’s territory.

The contents of urban development regulations, stipulated by the Urban Development Code of the Russian Federation, are partially outlined by texts and partially shown by graphic materials of the territorial section.

Maps of urban development zones are, in fact, atlases showing the capital’s administrative areas. A 1:10,000 scale open cartographic background of Moscow’s Joint State Cartographic Basis was selected as a cartographic base.

“The first map lists various authorised-use categories, currently listed as the main authorised-use categories: kindergartens, schools, healthcare facilities, service centres, etc.,” Ms. Knyazhevskaya said.

Authorised-use categories include:

1) main authorised-use categories;

2) tentatively authorised-use categories;

3) auxiliary authorised-use categories.

The second map determines the boundaries of territorial zones and subzones, as well as maximum parameters of authorised construction and reconstruction.

Land use and construction regulations set forth the following maximum construction parameters:

1) maximum land-plot construction density;

2) maximum number of floors or maximum height of a building;

3) maximum land-plot construction levels.

The maps show the following territories not covered by urban development regulations:

• territories of landmarks and architectural ensembles included in the Joint State Register of Cultural Landmarks;
• territories of landmarks and architectural ensembles listed among newly-discovered cultural landmarks;
• general-purpose territories for pipelines, railways, motorways, power transmission lines, etc. and/or containing these facilities, territories for extracting mineral resources.

Urban development regulations are not stipulated for forests, land plots of special economic zones covered by surface water, specially protected nature territories, nature reserves and farmland.

The third map shows territories for comprehensive and sustained development. Their boundaries are stipulated along the boundaries of one or several territorial zones. The maps also show calculated minimal permissible levels of utility, transportation and social infrastructure facilities per territory. In all, the draft document lists over ten comprehensive and sustained development territories.

Certain maps merely show, rather than stipulate, cultural landmarks, the boundaries of their territories and the boundaries of zones with special terms for using their territories:

• boundaries of water-protection zones, protective coastline and waterfront sections;
• boundaries of sanitary-protection zones of sources of drinking water and utility-water sources;
• boundaries of sanitary-protection zones;
• boundaries of cultural landmarks’ protection zones;
• boundaries of zones for regulating construction and economic activity;
• boundaries of protected nature landscape zones;
• boundaries of cultural landmarks’ protection zones;
• boundaries of protective perimeters of specially protected nature territories;
• boundaries of technical zones (protective perimeters) of underground utility mains;
• boundaries of technical zones (protective perimeters) of overhead power transmission lines;
• boundaries of technical zones (protective perimeters) of metro lines;
• boundaries of zones of protected facilities.