Conflict in Ciocana district caused by pizzeria construction

A group of Ciocana inhabitants opposes the construction of a pizzeria and pastry shop, the location for which is the vicinity of their block of flats. The inhabitants of block number 12, placed on Mircea cel Batrin Boulevard came into conflict with the construction firm “Grand-Fox”, complaining that this construction will shadow their building views and will cause disturbance due to the noise caused by the nature of such a public alimentary enterprise and its functioning. Some of the inhabitants are eager to give up on their ground floor apartments based on the assumption that the construction company will offer an alternative flat in a different building. The case was discussed on July 11, at the Municipal Urban Council where it was decided to make a technical expertise in order to establish whether the construction company breached the legal provisions, with regards particularly to discipline and order in the construction process. The architects could not make any statement on whether the firm breached the law, but they mentioned that according to the project plan, the norms regarding the infrastructure, i.e. for the edifice to be built within a 24m distance from the block of apartments and not 10m as the construction firm claims, were not respected. Although the head of Land and Property Department, Nicolae Craciun, said that the Law on architectural activity foresees the consultation of inhabitants in a case scenario where an edifice is built in the vicinity of a block of flats. The members of the Urban Council showed, however, a low level of information about the character of popular consultation and the actions undertaken by the local authority and the construction company when the inhabitants oppose the construction. The Deputy Chief of the Architecture and Urbanism Department, Nicon Zaporojan, stated that the construction companies in Chisinau have not learned to discuss the needs of the inhabitants in order to avoid such conflict situations. According to Zaporojan, companies should knock on peoples’ doors in an attempt to reach a compromise. The members of the Urban Council said that all blocks of flats situated at Ciocana were built long before other social and commercial facilities, which are to be built in any case along the boulevard, in conformity with the General Urban Plan.