The draft, in the form given to it after the first reading, introduces, among other things, a number of changes concerning the integrated investment plan ("IIP"). The IIP, introduced into the Act by the amendment adopted in 2023, is a special form of the zoning plan that takes into account cooperation between the investor and the municipality.
According to the current wording of the Act, the IIP covers the area of the main investment planned by the investor (at whose request the municipality initiates work on the IIP) and the supplementary investment.
The draft amendments to the Act introduce the possibility of including other areas in the scope of the IIP, in addition to the area of the main investment and the supplementary investment (which must be included in the IIP). This may prove necessary if changes need to be made to the spatial development of the surroundings of the main and supplementary investments. In addition, the draft also provides for the possibility of exempting an obligation to include in the IIP the area of supplementary investment if implementation of the supplementary investment is possible on the basis of already existing zoning plan.
Under the draft amendment to the Act, the list of projects that may constitute a supplementary investment would also be expanded. This would include projects serving the municipality's own tasks (in particular in the field of construction, change of use or reconstruction of utility networks, public roads, railway lines, public transport infrastructure facilities, cultural facilities, facilities for the care of children under 3 years of age, kindergartens, schools, day care centres, health care facilities, facilities providing social assistance, facilities serving public benefit activities, sports and recreation facilities, public green areas), even if they do not serve the main investment. In the case of investments related to the construction, change of use or reconstruction of facilities intended for commercial or service activities, their classification as complementary investments will continue to be determined, as before, by whether they serve the main investment.
The changes will also apply to urban planning agreement concluded in connection with the adoption IIP. In light of the draft amendment to the Act, in an urban planning agreement, an investor could commit to act not only to the benefit of the municipality, as has been the case to date, but also to the benefit public entities within the meaning of the Act of 19 December 2008 on public-private partnership.
The draft amendment to the Act also grants the municipal council an entitlement to establish, in the form of a resolution constituting an act of local law, the rules for determining the provisions of urban planning agreements. The resolution referred to above would apply to all urban planning agreements concluded by a given municipality. On the basis of this resolution, the municipality could establish various rules for determining the provisions of urban planning agreement, taking into account, in particular, the type or parameters of the main investment.
The adoption by the municipality of a resolution specifying the rules for determining the provisions of urban planning agreements, creating a kind of guidelines for the parties to the agreement, would create an opportunity to streamline and improve the negotiation process. On the other hand, resolutions that regulate the substantive scope of urban planning agreements in too much detail may impose an overly restrictive legal framework on investors and municipalities, severely limiting their freedom to negotiate.
According to the draft amendment, the new provisions would apply to IIPs covered by investors' applications submitted after the amendments come into force. The provisions of the Act in its current wording will continue to apply to the preparation and adoption of IIPs being prepared on the basis of applications submitted by investors before the amendment comes into force.
The solutions proposed in the draft are a step in the right direction. Their aim is, among other things, to streamline the implementation of solutions based on cooperation between private investors and municipalities. The amendment to the Act is now awaiting further work in the Sejm. The final shape of the amendments to the Act therefore remains unknown.
