Pozzuoli, building amnesty for a house in via Solfatara: permit issued after the 4.4 magnitude earthquake

OfRoberto Russo

A property with two apartments, ok even if it is considered among the most at-risk areas of the Campi Flegrei. A stop to new construction has never been approved as for Vesuvius

The law is respected but the result is paradoxical: while bradyseism continues to shake the Flegrea area, the Municipality of Pozzuoli has issued a building permit in amnesty for a house in via Solfatara. In practice, one of the areas considered most at risk by scientists, both because it is the epicenter of many tremors and because of the danger linked to possible volcanic events. The procedural process is regular, everything was done according to the laws in force. The building permit under the amnesty is number 90 of 5 June, issued two weeks after the very powerful 4.4 magnitude earthquake which caused damage to hundreds of buildings and the eviction of 717 people from their homes.

But if the cards are in order, as in this case, there is little that can be done. Thus, Directorate 5 Urban Planning Coordination Government of the territory of the Phlegraean Municipality issued the license following the construction of the “artifact”. In particular a property “consisting of two apartments arranged, respectively, on the ground floor and first floor, by a basement garage, by an extension on the first floor and on the ground floor, with a veranda of the pre-existing building” and finally by “a masonry building on the ground floor only for storage use”.

In short, a house which, according to the preliminary report of the municipal technical office, is among the abuses considered remediable pursuant to law 47/85. The documentation produced is complete and compliant with the relevant regulatory provisions; the oblation declared in relation to the building abuse (6,981 euros) was “fully paid”. The works are located in an area subject to environmental restrictions and the local Landscape Commission has expressed a favorable opinion. With regards to the Superintendence of Archaeology, Fine Arts and Landscape, it has not yet sent its opinion despite having been asked for it on 25 February 2013. The law provides that «in the event of failure to express the binding opinion within the deadline set, the competent Administration will overrides and issues the authorisation.” The authorization also refers to the general master plan of the Municipality of Pozzuoli, whose conformity was decreed by the regional council on 21 January 2002.

Moreover, in the municipality of Pozzuoli alone, ten thousand amnesty applications have been submitted since 1984.. Not only verandas, balconies, sheds, garages, cellars, but as you can see also homes. In short, the amnesties do not stop even in the dramatic days of the bradyseism emergency, while the teams of technicians still go around the buildings to make sure that there are no buildings yet to be cleared. And in other municipalities in the Flegrea area, not even building permits have been stopped: as in Quarto where, among other things, more than one settlement is being built for new homes.

In the red risk area of the Campi Flegrei, a regional law prohibiting construction has never been approved, as instead happened in the Vesuvian area. For Vesuvius there has been a regional law of this kind for some time. It was approved in 2003 by the council of the then governor Antonio Bassolino, (proposing councilor Marco Di Lello). Article 5 placed the absolute constraint of no building on 250 kilometers of Vesuvian territory.

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