Buildings up to 200 m only upon application. Investments will start with a bang

• On 10 June, the government adopted a draft amendment to the Construction Law, which will allow local governments to construct public utility buildings of up to 200 square meters upon notification, without a building permit.
• - This change will certainly speed up the implementation of such investments, because practice shows that the complicated procedure of obtaining a building permit can take up to two years - says attorney Michał Rutkowski, partner of Graś i Wspólnicy Law Firm.
• - I positively assess any deregulation at the local government level and simplification of procedures, especially when it concerns procedures between offices. If the mayor, the president or the district head applies for a building permit for some simple object, then it seems even more justified to simplify the procedures - says Remigiusz Górniak, vice-president of the Association of Polish Local Governments, the district head of Mińsk.

According to the project adopted by the Council of Ministers , the construction of detached, no more than two-storey public utility buildings with a usable area of ​​no more than 200 square metres, whose area of ​​impact is located on the plot or plots on which they were designed, will not require a building permit.

To implement an investment, it is enough to notify about the construction with an attached prepared and designed development of the plot or area and an architectural and construction project, appoint a construction manager and keep a construction log by him . The implementation of such an investment will require a notification of completion of construction, periodic inspections and keeping a book of the construction object.

Attorney Michał Rutkowski, partner of Graś i Wspólnicy Law Firm emphasizes that the amendment applies to public utility buildings whose usable area will not exceed 200 square meters , and this category includes buildings intended for the implementation of specific social needs, such as post offices, public administration buildings, culture, sports, passenger services in rail and road transport, health care, social or welfare care . In connection with this, the expert believes that this change brings great hope for the local government investment market.

If the planned amendment is actually introduced into the Polish legal system, it may constitute a great opportunity for municipalities and counties to develop local social infrastructure (social welfare centres, cultural centres), but also contribute to increasing accessibility in terms of transport. This change will certainly speed up the implementation of such investments, because practice shows that the complicated procedure of obtaining a building permit can take up to two years. However, the need to prepare design documentation still remains, which in practice means costs related to their preparation.

- explains attorney Michał Rutkowski.

I positively evaluate any deregulation at the local government level and simplification of procedures, especially when it concerns procedures between offices. If the mayor, the president or the district governor applies for a building permit for a simple object, then it seems even more justified to simplify the procedures

- says Remigiusz Górniak, vice-president of the Association of Polish Local Governments, starosta of Mińsk.

- Representatives of local government authorities and officials act within the law and are not inclined to violate the law when preparing investments. We are public entities established to fulfill obligations towards residents and we do so - adds Remigiusz Górniak.

As he adds, the change will reduce the formalities that officials have enough of. - As offices and local government units, we spend a lot of time preparing documentation. Especially in the case of smaller public facilities, procedures for implementing investments often drag on for months or even years. Removing the formalities from us in the case of smaller buildings up to 200 square meters is a very welcome move for us and will help us focus on development planning , i.e. on what residents expect from us - emphasizes Remigiusz Górniak.

In the opinion of the vice-president, thanks to such deregulation, investments such as village community centres, small community centres or sports facilities on playing fields can be completed even half a year faster.

Local governments will not completely get rid of formalities, however. Attorney Michał Rutkowski explains that according to the project, the implementation of such facilities will require investors to submit a plot or land development plan and an architectural and construction plan, which will have to strictly fit into the above-mentioned catalogue, i.e. concern the categories of buildings specified in the regulations and have a specified usable area .

On their basis, the body will assess whether the investment project will fall within the scope of the newly introduced exemption from the need to obtain a building permit. Moreover, attorney Michał Rutkowski reminds that such construction projects have been subject to the obligation to appoint a construction manager by the legislator at the current stage of legislative work.

Such investments will be further subject to substantive assessment by the architectural and construction authority, which will be able to use its competence to file an objection to such a notification, which will prevent the investor from implementing such a construction object without obtaining a building permit.

- says attorney Michał Rutkowski and adds: - Therefore, in the face of the next step in reducing the amount of formalities in the construction process, it will be necessary to make a detailed assessment of whether the investment project will not only fit within the area of ​​200 square meters, but also whether it will belong to the strictly specified category of public utility buildings by the content of par. 3 item 6 of the Regulation of the Minister of Infrastructure of 12 April 2002 on technical conditions.

According to the content of this provision, a public utility building is a building intended for public administration, justice, culture, religious worship, education, higher education, science, health care, social and welfare care, banking, trade, catering, services, tourism, sports, passenger service in rail, road, air or water transport, post or telecommunications, and other publicly accessible building intended for performing similar functions. An office and social building is also considered a public utility building.

The draft amendment also includes, among other things , free-standing protective structures with a usable area of ​​up to 35 square meters (without changing external walls and structures) and playing fields and courts used not only for recreation but also for sports among investments requiring only notification. On the other hand , terraces with a roof area of ​​up to 35 square meters, swimming pools and water features with an area of ​​no more than 50 square meters at residential buildings and at individual recreation buildings, as well as swimming pools up to 15 square meters and water features up to 10 square meters in family allotment gardens , may be built without notification.

The investments that only require notification will include the construction of a small columbarium on the cemetery grounds, with a building area of ​​no more than 15 square meters and a height of no more than 3 meters . There are currently doubts about the interpretation of this issue, because columbariums are not included in the Building Law - when the administrative body does not know whether columbariums should be built based on notification or a building permit, they expect to obtain a building permit just in case.

Marek Wójcik, a legislative expert at the Association of Polish Cities and co-secretary of the Joint Government and Local Government Commission, points out that another legislative change is also needed in the matter of columbaria. Local governments, as cemetery managers, appeal for the possibility of building columbaria closer to water intakes . This change is urgently needed because it will increase the availability of places to bury the deceased in cemeteries, which are currently lacking. However, there is no land in cities on which cemeteries could be created.

The currently still applicable regulation of the Minister of Municipal Economy of 25 August 1959 on determining which areas are suitable for cemeteries in terms of sanitary conditions (Journal of Laws of 1959, No. 52, item 315) specifies that the distance from the cemetery (or columbaria) used to draw water for drinking and economic purposes should be at least 150 m. It is possible to reduce the mentioned distance to 50 m if the area within the range of 50 to 150 m from the cemetery has a water supply network and all buildings using water are connected to this network.