Public Council at the Mykolaiv City Hall did not support the draft of new Rules of landscaping from the Department of Housing and Communal Services

The Public Council at the Mykolaiv City Hall did not support the draft of the new Rules of Landscaping from the Department of Housing and Communal Services. Photo: Business Support Centre

The Expert and Public Council of the Executive Committee of the Mykolaiv City Council did not support the draft Rules for Landscaping developed by the Department of Housing and Communal Services. According to members of the public, the proposed version of the document is overly formalised and does not take into account the suggestions of city residents.

This is evidenced by the minutes of the meeting of the expert and public council of 6 November, according to NikVesti.

Recently, a regular meeting of the council was held in Mykolaiv to discuss the draft new Rules for the improvement of the city's territorial community. This document should define the basic principles of urban space care, the procedure for maintaining territories, landscaping, cleaning, outdoor advertising, and other aspects related to the city's development. Currently, the responsibility for drafting these rules has been transferred to the Mykolaiv community's Department of Housing and Communal Services.

However, during the meeting, the expert and public council recommended that the mayor and city council members not adopt the draft rules in the current version. As Valerii Vetrov, a representative of the expert and public council at the city executive committee, told NikVesti, the main problem with this version of the document is its excessive formalisation. The text relies on references to standard rules, which is why it contains very few clear and understandable wording.

«The Rules for Improvement is a document that is very important for the housing and communal services sector. They have the Model Rules, which they are guided by. Our main complaint is that they have a general format and in most sections they simply refer to these rules. This means that they write «the problem is this, it will not comply with the standard, it will not comply with a certain law». For a document to work, it must be detailed, clear and understandable. Firstly, for the officials who ensure its implementation. And, most importantly, for residents and entrepreneurs. No one will look for these references in complex documents. This is our city document, and it should explain everything in a clear way, what needs to be done and how,» he explained.

Valerii Vetrov, a representative of the expert and public council at the city executive committee (right) during the meeting on 6 November. Photo: Business Support Centre

Valerii Vetrov recalled that back in 2019, a working group was set up to draft the Rules for the Improvement of Mykolaiv, which actively engaged the public and experts from various fields to fill the document as much as possible.

«A draft had already been prepared earlier, involving residents and entrepreneurs. We have been working on this document for a long time. Although it was before the war, there were no major changes in the legislation. Therefore, we recommended returning to that document and revising it rather than adopting this one,» said Valerii Vetrov.

He emphasised that the new draft of the Rules for Urban Improvement should take into account the specifics of the city and not contain only generalised provisions.

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«You can take standard rules from the website of, for example, Zaporizhzhia, Kyiv or Odesa, but Mykolaiv has its own specifics, and the document should correspond to it,» the member of the expert and public council concluded.

According to the Business Support Centre, the meeting was attended by Ihor Nabatov, First Deputy Director of the Department of Housing and Communal Services. He explained that some of the council's proposals had already been taken into account.

«Many proposals were accepted or partially accepted. Some were rejected not because they are bad, but because these norms are already defined in the rules of improvement. There are proposals that I would like to add, but given that they were formulated by the expert and public council, it would be nice to finalise them, for example, in terms of adding certain sections,» said Iрor Nabatov.

The Public Council at the Mykolaiv City Hall did not support the draft of the new Rules for Landscaping from the Department of Housing and Communal Services. Photo: Business Support Centre

Ihor Nabatov also noted that the department was guided by the standard rules for landscaping defined by law, and the Council had sufficient time to provide comments. That is why he considers the proposal to return to the 2019-2022 draft unconstructive. Nevertheless, the Business Support Centre noted that the Department of Housing and Communal Services is ready to finalise the document with public participation.

As reported earlier, NikVesti wrote that Mykolaiv Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych decided to postpone the opening of staff meetings for journalists until early next year.