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Significant amendments in the land development and urbanism law

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1.          Introduction

Significant  changes  to  the  Law  no.  350/2001  regarding  land  development  and  urbanism  (the “Urbanism Law”)  came  into effect on 13  July 2013.  The  changes  are  enacted  under Law  no. 190/2013  for  the  approval  of  Government’s  Emergency  Ordinance  no.  7/2011   (“GEO  no. 7/2011”) for amending and supplementing Law no. 350/2001 regarding land development and urbanism  (the  “Law  no.  190/2013”)  published  with  the  Official  Gazette  no.  408  of  10  July 2013.

2.          Main legislative amendments

We have presented herein a short description of the most important changes brought by Law no. 190/2013,  with  special  consideration  to  the  proceedings  for  initiating  and  approving  zoning urban plans (“PUZ”).

  • New elements introduced for the urbanism certificates

According  to  the  newly  enactments  under  Law  no.  190/2013,  the  urbanism  certificate  will indicate  the  regime  of  updating/amending  existing  urbanism  documentations  and  of  their corresponding local regulations. Therefore, in case the technical parameters of a new investment project do not comply with the urbanism documentation in force, under the urbanism certificate, the applicant shall be informed in respect to:

  1. the impossibility of amending the urbanism documentation in force; or
  2. the necessity of obtaining an opportunity endorsement in accordance with the relevant legal norms; or
  • the possibility of preparing a new urbanism documentation in order to amend the urbanism documentation in force, without prior obtaining an opportunity
  • The exclusive initiative of the public administration authorities for certain types of land development and urbanism documentations

The initiative for drafting land development and urbanism documentations shall pertain exclusively to the public administration authorities for the following types of documentations:

  1. land development documentations;
  2. general urban plans (“PUGs”);
  3. zoning urban plans (PUZ) for the central areas;
  4. PUZ for the entire protected construction areas and protection area of monuments; and
  5. PUZ or detailed urban plans (“PUD”), in case the envisaged projects to be developed are of public

 

In any other cases, the initiative for drafting urbanism documentations may pertain to public administration authorities or to any other interested natural and legal persons.

In case the initiative for drafting land development and urbanism documentations pertains to  the public administration authorities, the costs for preparing the respective documentations will be financed from the state or local budgets, except for the PUZs and PUDs amending parts of the protected construction areas, the costs of which may be borne also by any other interested natural and legal persons.

  • Removal of the interdiction to draft land development and urbanism documentation at the initiative of legal entities or individuals, except for the cases expressly provided therein

In accordance with the amendments brought to the Urbanism Law under GEO no. 7/2011, which entered into force as of 11 February 2011, the initiative for drafting of a PUZ became the exclusive attribute of the public  administration  authorities.  As an exception,  legal entities or individuals were  allowed  to  initiate  PUZs  exclusively for:  (i)  industrial  parks;  (ii)  technological  parks;  (iii) supermarkets;  (iv)  hypermarkets;  (v)  commercial  parks;  (vi)  cultural  parks;  (vii)  production zones; (viii) the development of new residential assemblies; (ix) transportation infrastructure; or

(x) the expansion of the intra muros area of the locality with at least 10,000 sq. m. for habitat functions  or  at  least  5,000  sq.  m.  for  service  or  production  functions.  In  these  cases,  the preparation of the PUZ was made through the investor’s due care and on the investor’s expense.

As of the entering into force of Law no. 190/2013, the provision above was removed and replaced with a more general wording, allowing legal entities and individuals to initiate PUZs and PUDs, except for the cases in which drafting these urbanism documentations is the exclusive attribute of the public administration authorities, as provided under Section 2.2 above.

Pursuant  to  Law  no.  190/2013,  in  case  under  the  urbanism  certificate  an  amendment  of  the urbanism documentation in force is requested or in case such would be requested by the specific conditions  of  the  area  or  the  nature  of  the  project  to  be  developed,  the  relevant  local  public authority  may  approve  the  investment  project  subject  to  the  planning  and  approval  of  a  PUZ, through   the   investor’s   due   care   and   on   the   investor’s   expense,   based   on   a   preliminary opportunity  endorsement  issued  by  the  specialised  structure  lead  by  the  chief  architect  and approved by the relevant competent legal entities.

  • Limitations of the CUT to be amended under a PUZ

According to the Urbanism Law, whenever the technical parameters of a new investment project do not comply with the ones approved under the PUG (therefore certain derogations need to be approved) or in the event that the existing urbanism documentation does not contain enough information to integrate the project within the urbanism regulations, the competent authority may require the elaboration and approval of a PUZ or a PUD.

The PUZ shall determine the rules regarding the construction regime, the function of the area, the maximum height allowed, the coefficient of land use (“CUT”), the percent of land occupancy (“POT”), the withdrawal of the buildings from the alignment and the distances from the side and rear boundaries of the plot.

The newly enacted provisions of Law no. 190/2013 provide that the amendment by PUZ of parts of the territorial reference unit may be financed by legal entities or individuals and, in this case, the CUT proposed under the regulations of the PUZ cannot exceed the initial CUT as established under the PUG with more than 20%. The limitation does not apply in relation to a PUZ drafted for   areas   of    commercial    interest,   industrial   parks,   technological   parks,    supermarkets, hypermarkets, commercial parks, service areas and any other similar area.

 

  • Amendments of the cases where the drafting of a PUZ becomes mandatory

New cases where drafting of a PUZ becomes compulsory have been introduced, while others  were removed, such as those referring to areas destined to hypermarkets and/or commercial parks, production zones, cultural parks, areas where new residential assemblies will be  developed or the coast area or the protection area of the sea coast.

Consequently,  under  the  newly  enactments  of  Law  no.  190/2013  the  drafting  of  a  PUZ  is mandatory for the following areas/activities:

  1. localities’ central areas;
  2. protected construction areas and protected area of monuments;
  3. entertainment and tourism areas (in Romanian: “zone de agrement si turism”);
  4. industrial, technological zones or parks and service areas;
  5. in case of land dismemberments (in Romanian: “parcelari”), if the plot of land shall be de-merged in more than three plots;
  6. transportation infrastructure;
  7. areas subject to restructuring and urban regeneration; and
  8. any other areas established by the local public entities of the localities, according to

The territorial delimitation of the zones for which a PUZ is mandatory is to be established by means of the PUG. However, by way of exception, the PUZ shall not be mandatory, if the PUG regulates the conditions for authorising the investments within the respective area, except for the protected construction areas.

  • Increase of the period for approving the land development and urbanism planning documentations

The relevant local or county council is required to issue a decision approving or rejecting the land development or urbanism documentation within a maximum of 45 days (instead of 30 days under the former regulation) after the closing of the public debate, the submission of the explanatory memorandum prepared by the mayor / county council president and speciality report prepared by the chief architect.

  • Increase of the period for which a PUG may be extended

A PUG may be extended only once for a period of maximum 5 years (instead of 3 years under the former regulation).

The  provisions  imposing  the  obligation  incumbent  upon  the  chief-architect  to  inform  the relevant public  authorities  in respect to the necessity of updating  the  PUG  have  been  repealed under Law no. 190/2013.

3.          Other relevant amendments

  • Clarifying the regime of PUD

The  amendments  brought  by  Law  no.  190/2013  clearly  stipulate  that  the  PUD  may be  drafted only with the purpose of a detailed regulation of the provisions included in a PUG or PUZ. A PUD may  regulate  the  withdrawals  from  the  side  and  rear  boundaries  of  the  plot,  the  car  and pedestrian accesses, the architectural-volumetric compliance, the manner to occupy the ground, the design of the public areas.

Furthermore, Law no. 190/2013 expressly provides that the PUD may regulate the POT.

 

  • The obligation to obtain endorsements from the Environment and Climatic Changes Ministry for certain categories of land development or urbanism documentations

Law  no.  190/2013  introduces  the  obligation  to  obtain  the  endorsement  from  the  Environment and  Climatic  Changes  Ministry  prior  to  their  approval  for  the  following  land  development  or urbanism  documentations:  (a)  zonal  regional  land  development  plans;  (b)  PUZ  referring  to touristic  areas  of  national  interest,  the  coast  area  respectively,  mountain  areas,  as  well  as  any other land categories as established under relevant normative acts in order to ensure sustainable development  and  preserving  local  identity;  and  (c)  PUZ  partly  referring  to  touristic  areas  of national interest, the coast area respectively, mountain areas, as well as any other land categories as  established  under  relevant  normative  acts  in  order  to  ensure  sustainable  development  and preserving local identity.

  • The competences of the Romanian Urban Registry (“RUR”) are expressly provided under Law no. 190/2013

The main competences of RUR as established under Law no. 190/2013 are as follows:

  1. approving the regulation regarding acquiring the signature right for land development and urbanism documentations;
  2. approving the regulation for the functioning of RUR;
  3. designating the specialists within the commissions of public tenders for awarding contests, studies and land development and urbanism documentations
    • Harmonising the regulations related to the public information and consultation prior to the drafting and review of the land development and urbanism plans

According  to  Law  no.  190/2013,  within  6  months  as  of  its  entering  into  force,  the  regulations related to the public  information  and consultation prior to the drafting  and review  of the land development  and  urbanism  plans  will  be  harmonised  by  joint  order  issued  by  the  Regional Development  and  Public  Administration  Ministry  and  Environment   and  Climatic  Changes Ministry.

  • Approval of methodological norms to the Law no. 190/2013

The   Ministry   of   Regional   Development   and   Public   Administration   should   prepare   the methodological norms for the application of Law no. 190/2013 and for drafting and updating the urbanism documentations within 90 days as of the entering into force of the law.

4.         Status of documentations drafted under the previous legal provisions

As a transitory provision, the Law no. 190/2013 provides that the endorsement and approval of urbanism documentations drafted prior to 1 February 2012 but which were not approved as at 13 July 2013, will be subject to the legal provisions of the Urbanism Law as it was further amended by  Law  no.  190/2013,  but  taking  into  consideration  also  the  documentation  prepared  and endorsements already obtained.

Updating the expired endorsements shall be performed by the relevant authorities within 15 days as of submitting the relevant request in respect thereof. The updated endorsement is considered to be tacitly approved upon expiry of a 15 days term as from the submission of the request.

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