The timing for reorganizing the urban planning and construction structure in Sicily is still uncertain. The bill has not yet been examined by Sala d’Ercole and further steps forward have not been made. The text of the law, which contains 27 articles, is stuck in Territory and environment commission, chaired by Giuseppe Carta, from January 16th. Date on which it gave the first green light.
The reform is long overdue and represents one useful tool for bureaucratic streamlining, necessary to restart the economy and to give certainty to citizens who turn to the public administration. The proposed law introduces a series of innovations to resolve the long-standing problems of recent years. From the new lineup of General urban plan (Pug) which combines strategy and operations to, consequent, debureaucratization of the procedure for adopting and approving urban planning instruments.
The reform intervenes, above all, on municipal urban planning, on the so-called Pug, establishing the criteria for examination by the municipal councils. Furthermore, it goes into detail about the detailed implementation plans (PPA) and the procedures for issuing permits and concessions in park and nature reserve areas.
Now we are waiting for the scheduling in the Chamber, everything postponed after 8 and 9 June for the European elections. However, in the preliminary investigation phase, a cycle of hearings was activated during which the professional associations, the associations representing local authorities and the social partners were heard some changes were made which significantly expanded the original provisions of the bill.
The bill, dedicated to urban planning, plans to modify the provisions on construction, in some cases, necessary for the Sicilian Region in order to implement the new regulations introduced at national level. In other cases to intervene on discipline in matters of control of urban planning-building activity and in matters of regularization of illegal works. The regional law of reference is that of 13 August 2020, n. 19, which has to do with the matter of territorial governance.
There are various objectives that the reform aims to achieve. The first of these is certainly to specify that among the purposes that fall within the principles of equalization and compensation, which must be based on the provisions contained in the plans of local authorities and the Region, there is also that of limiting the use of expropriation procedures. It is also clarified that the territorial information system (Sitr), in addition to the tasks already assigned, will also have to manage the procedures for the approval of territorial and urban planning tools. Municipalities will also have the obligation to approve (and no longer adopt) the Pug. The general urban plan –the general instrument of governance of the municipal territory with which the Municipalities plan and regulate the protection, valorisation and urban and construction transformation activities of the entire territory considered– establishes the methods for locating production activities in the municipal territory, with particular attention not only to commercial activities, but also to tourism.
On the topic of Pug adoption, further clarity and clarification is needed. The bill remedies a series of interpretative uncertainties which arose with the entry into force of the 2020 law. Interpretative or applicative problemswhich have been found during the four years of validity of the regional legislation, require a decisive intervention by the regional legislator in particular to simplify some procedures concerning the approval of general urban planning instruments, their variants and detailed implementation plans .
From this point of view, the urban planning reform intervenes on the process of formation and approval of the Pug and its variants, making the procedure easier. As? First of all, excluding the preliminary document adopted by the Municipal Council from being published in the Official Journal of the Sicilian Region, given that its publicity is sufficiently guaranteed by its publication on the websites of the Municipality and the regional Department for Territory and the Environment. Secondly, we intervene on the modification of some terms, both in terms of the timing of the consultation and for the expression of the reasoned opinion by the environmental authority, at the conclusion of the consultation phase. In this case the changes are motivated by need to coordinate and standardize the provisions of the 2020 regional law with those of legislative decree no. 152 of 2006, i.e. the Environmental Code.
The theme of urban regeneration and the redevelopment of the degraded environment has not been overlooked by the proponents of the law. In fact, in order to combat building degradation, the Region will have the task of promoting urban and peri-urban redevelopment interventions, which involve the partial or complete demolition of incongruous works or elements of decay, as well as buildings located in areas of hydraulic and geological danger. with soil restoration. Instead, as part of the initiatives aimed at zero land consumption, the Region will have to encourage initiatives aimed at the redevelopment of the degraded environment.
All that remains is to wait and monitor the next steps at Palazzo dei Normanni.
