The partial suspension of the Municipal Master Plan (PDM) of Viana do Castelo and the City Urbanization Plan (PUC) to allow the city’s growth to the north comes into force on Wednesday, for a period of two years.
The suspension of the PDM and PUC, and the establishment of preventive measures, covers an area of 4.89 hectares located in the parish of Areosa and in the Union of Parishes of Viana do Castelo (Santa Maria Maior and Monserrate) and Meadela.
According to the notice published today in Diário da República, the period of validity of preventive measures is two years, starting today, and can be extended for another year.
The suspension of the PDM and PUC, and the establishment of preventive measures, were approved by a majority at a council meeting in February, with the objective of preparing, within 18 months, a Detailed Plan for the North Coast (PPLN), “an area that involves an area of great centrality in terms of collective equipment of different types, currently degraded from an urban and landscaping point of view, where warehouses and workshops of large volume and poor architectural quality predominate, located at the northern entrance to the center urban area of Viana do Castelo, which the Chamber intends to rehabilitate and enhance”.
In February, speaking to journalists, the mayor of Viana do Castelo explained that that area, of “considerable size, is available, has no occupation and that urban planning principles must be established”.
“There are private individuals wanting to invest and we have no rules for that area”, explained Luís Nobre.
The area that will be the target of the detailed plan is located between the Higher School of Technology and Management (ESTG), of the Polytechnic Institute of Viana do Castelo, and Estrada Nacional (EN) 13.
For that area of the city, the municipality plans to install a blue innovation cluster called VIANA Science+Technology+ARTS Center (VIANA S+T+ARTS Center) in the old municipal slaughterhouse, deactivated since 1990, in an investment of six million euros, which aims to attract and retain qualified young professionals.
The municipality “has planned rehabilitation actions for the former municipal slaughterhouse building, currently vacant, and the urban rehabilitation of the surrounding area, as a result of the commitment made, in partnership with various community entities, in the area of sustainable exploitation of oceanic resources, in order to develop a sustainable blue economy for the region”.
The municipality maintains that, “due to the externalities” resulting from the VIANA S+T+ARTS Center project, “an increase in the appetite for private investment in this area can be expected before the publication of the ongoing review of the PDM, which, if , will cause harm to its development.”
“The suspension of the plan aims to safeguard the prospects for future development, foreseen in the ongoing review of the PDM for the area in question, with the aim of remedying the insufficient supply of housing at affordable prices through the typological change in buildability and the increase building capacity, through a Detailed Plan for the North Coast (PPLN)”.
