How to cancel an adopted zoning plan or its amendment
Has the municipality in which you own property adopted a new zoning plan or an amendment to it?
Do you disagree with the designation of areas in the zoning plan or its amendment?
In principle, the law offers two ways to defend against such a procedure.
- Proposal for the annulment of a measure of a general nature
- Initiation of a review procedure of the legality of
measures of a general nature
The zoning plan or its amendment takes the form of a measure of a general nature. No appeal may be lodged against a measure of a general nature. However, you can file a petition with the competent regional court to annul a measure of a general nature or to initiate a review procedure of the legality of a measure of a general nature. Below you will find an overview of the procedure when a petition for the annulment of a part of a zoning plan or its amendment is filed with the court.
Proposal for the annulment of a measure of a general nature
Anyone who claims to have been deprived of his or her rights in any way by the adopted measure may request the annulment of the measure of a general nature. This infringement of rights must be alleged and proven in the application. An action for annulment of a measure of a general nature may therefore be brought only by the owner concerned, that is to say, a person with a property or other right in rem in the land directly affected by the measure of a general nature. Other persons entitled to bring an action for the annulment of a zoning plan or its amendment are owners of neighbouring properties, members of the public, affected associations or neighbouring municipalities. If an application is made for the annulment of an amendment to a zoning plan, it is necessary that the area in question is directly affected by the amendment.
A petition to repeal a measure of a general nature must be submitted within 1 year from the date of entry into force of the zoning plan or its amendment (the zoning plan or its amendment becomes effective after 15 days have elapsed from the date on which the competent authority posted it on its official board). The court fee for filing a petition is CZK 5,000.
What do the courts examine in the proceedings?
- Whether the process of drafting and adopting a measure of a general nature was observed (e.g. whether all deadlines set by law were observed, whether the administrative authority did not exceed the limits of its statutory competence or whether a public hearing of the proposal was held in accordance with the law);
- the content of the measure of a general nature in terms of whether the measure of a general nature (or part thereof) is in conflict with the law (material criterion), i.e. whether the measure of a general nature respects all the requirements of the Building Act and other legal regulations;
- whether the principle of proportionality has been respected (i.e. whether the chosen solution is proportionate to the degree of interference with the rights of individuals).
The possibility of review of a measure of a general nature by a court is limited in the event that the petitioner did not object to the proposed solution during the process of development and adoption of the land-use plan. In such a case, the court is not entitled to review the adequacy of the adopted solution (the process of filing objections was discussed in a previous article).
If the court does not grantthe application for the cancellation of the zoning plan or its amendment, a cassation complaint may be lodged with the Supreme Administrative Court against the rejected judgment within two weeks from the date of delivery of the written copy of the judgment. The appeal shall not affect the legal validity of the decision. The judgment of the Regional Court will therefore remain in force until the Supreme Administrative Court annuls it (if you are successful in the proceedings).
Similarly, a proposal for the annulment of a measure of a general nature may be submitted in the case of the principles of territorial development issued by the Region.
The second possibility to defend against the solution adopted by the zoning plan or its amendment is to file a petition to initiate a review procedure of the legality of a measure of a general nature. The review procedure of a measure of a general nature will be dealt with in the next article.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice or guidance for any particular case.
If you would like more information in this regard, please do not hesitate to contact us.