Small town's Big victory: residents of Zarechny defended the school stadium

Maria Dubinskaya

Activists of Zarechny told Novye Izvestia about how this story developed, noting that it can serve as a good example for all Russians on how to defend their rights and interests:

“The caring residents of our city lived for a whole year with the thought: “The stadium was here, is here and will be here!”. We are happy that in the end, the interests and rights of children won, and not the commercial benefit of the developer. Our children would be the first to see the demolition of the school stadium. It is they who spend every day of the holidays there, playing football and basketball, attending physical education classes and walking in extensions.

Tendencies for infill urban development seem to have "reached" from France, Germany, Spain, Belgium and to the Penza region. Infill construction causes indignation and protest of the inhabitants of Penza and Zarechny. Administration officials refer to the new best practices of Europe, but it is easy to find information on the Internet that residents of European countries are also struggling with these buildings, when architectural monuments are destroyed for commercial gain, the general appearance of the city is disfigured and the rights of residents are violated.

The problem of infill development has existed in our city since 2018 and has become systemic.

Yard areas, parks, recreation areas, historical sites, schools, kindergartens in the most sought-after areas are allotted for construction.

What can I say: now wealthy residents have the opportunity to live comfortably in the center of the city of Zarechny with parking lots and playgrounds to the detriment of ordinary hard workers.

Residents fought for the inviolability of the square named after Demakov. But part of the park has been cut down. The buildings for the carting section, the "Cordodrome" and the training ground for children from the aircraft modeling circle in the park named after M. Demakov. There are already skyscrapers.

Thus, the infrastructure and safety of movement of the whole children's town, the core of which was a pine forest, were violated. The main objects of education of citywide importance are concentrated around the square: the Palace of Children and Youth Creativity, the House of Children's Technical Creativity, the Children's Art School, the Children's and Youth Sports School, the secondary school No. 220, the interschool educational complex, the kindergarten No. 11.

Five years later, when the square was built up, the houses were handed over to the tenants for use, and then the violations were discovered. We are talking about providing Remstroymontazh LLC with a land plot without bidding.

In accordance with the decisions of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Penza Region and the Zarechensky City Court, the head of Remstroymontazh LLC Bukin O.V. the head of the city of Zarechny Klimanov O.V. provided for the construction of two multi-apartment residential buildings in the park named after Demakov for rent, without an auction, a municipal land plot of 6900 sq. m, which was in constant perpetual use of the MAOU DO "Center for Children's Technical Creativity" (hereinafter - the station of young technicians), as well as 3000 sq. m for the arrangement of paths and paths to the houses being built.

As a result, the area of land allocated to the station of young technicians back in 1995 was reduced from 14,000 to 3,000 square meters. m.

At the same time, on the land plot allotted for Remstroymontazh LLC, there was a municipal "Cordodrome" with an area of 1700 sq. m, (diameter 50 m).

The specified "Cordodrome" was also built in 1995 and cost the city treasury 1,600,000 rubles, it was the only place in the Penza region for holding competitions in aircraft modeling sports.

Subsequently, the type of permitted use was unlawfully changed from "Education" to "Residential Development", as a result of which the object of the educational institution - the municipal "Cordodrom" - began to illegally be located on a land plot leased by O.V. Bukin (LLC "Remstroymontazh") with permitted use "Residential development", and was dismantled by him.

The harm caused to the children's town by infill development, according to the residents of the city, cannot be repaired.

Simultaneously with the square. Demakov began building skyscrapers right on the sports ground of the former boarding school No. 218. In the summer of 2019, construction began on the site of the former kindergarten near school No. 222.

Residents were indignant: “The administration has got a taste for the sale of citywide land for infill development and, as a result, is not responsible for anything and ignores the opinion of the population!”

The construction of the stadium of school No. 222 overflowed the patience of local residents.

On May 28, 2021, residents who accidentally found out about the upcoming development of the school stadium urgently organized a mass meeting. Outraged residents unanimously spoke out against the next high-rise buildings, for them this stadium is the only place of rest in the microdistrict.

Parents of schoolchildren confirmed that the entire area of the stadium is actively used for physical education and for walks in the extended group of elementary school.

And, the most interesting thing is that there is no need for new houses here in principle. In Zarechny, according to officials, 60% of new buildings are not sold out!

But the opinion of the administration was voiced by the head of the city: the stadium of school No. 222 turned out to be a "wasteland"!

The inhabitants also called the position of the director of the school, Inna Ivanovna Yakubchuk, as striking. In an official interview, she stated that the construction of a high-rise building would not interfere with physical education classes and the school would not suffer.

But people had an elementary question about how safe it would be, because construction is planned to be carried out practically on the territory of the school itself, for several years.

At the meeting, people began to demand the resignation of the director, who stood up to protect the interests of developers. Thus, there was an obvious conflict of interests between representatives of the capital and residents of the microdistrict.

Yard territories, parks, recreation areas, schools, kindergartens in the most sought-after areas of the city are given for the construction of elite houses to the detriment of the interests of children and ordinary citizens. But wealthy residents have the opportunity to live comfortably with the best infrastructure of the city. And the existing communications and landscaped areas allow the developer to significantly reduce costs and get high profits.

The idea to build a multi-storey building at the school stadium appeared in 2016, when the territory was alienated from the balance sheet of the educational institution. The urban microdistrict was built up in compliance with the urban planning standards that are still relevant at the moment (SP 42.13330.2016 Urban planning. Planning and development of urban and rural settlements. Updated version of SNiP 2.07.01-89 *), where all areas allocated for residential and public building.

So, in accordance with SP 251.1325800.2016. "Buildings of educational organizations" (clause 6, clauses 6.5, 6.6), the core of the microdistrict is the school. The school stadium is the only recreation area in N4. Building up this territory means depriving schoolchildren of full-fledged physical education lessons, and residents of the opportunity to relax and play sports near their homes; aggravate the situation with the transport safety of children. There are no children's and sports grounds in the nearby courtyards. The only area for sports and walking is the stadium of school No. 222.

As a result, a meeting was held with the participation of the head of the city, which became a real event for a quiet closed town.

Under the pressure of the indignant public, the head of the city of Zarechny, Oleg Klimanov, was forced to back down. The construction of a house in the school stadium was canceled by the official statement of the head!

But, as it turned out, everything was not so simple! The Remstroy company, headed by O. V. Bukin, a member of the Legislative Assembly of the Penza Region, acting as a tenant and developer, did not abandon the idea of building a high-rise building.

The land is already leased, the auctions have passed, the money has been paid. On June 12, 2021, special equipment arrived, took soil samples for the creation of a development project.

Residents of the microdistrict realized that the threat had not passed, and their plans for the improvement of the stadium territory in 2023 were not approved by the administration. The official response of the deputy head of the city, I. V. Dilman, states that the plot of land near School No. 222 is leased from third parties. And the administration after the auction has no right to interfere in the economic activities of the tenant.

The residents had only one way out: a peaceful expression of protest, attracting public attention, publicity in the media.

They created a council of the microdistrict, united with the council of the parents of the city. Together with specialists, they drafted an appeal, collected and sent more than 1,000 signatures to the President, the Prosecutor General, as well as to other authorities at the regional and regional levels.

Representatives of the Council of Parents visited Elena Rogova, Commissioner for Human Rights of the Penza Region, in person.

The story of the struggle for the stadium was continued in April 2022, when measurers from Remstroymontazh LLC came to the stadium. It was with this organization that an agreement was concluded for the construction of a multi-storey residential building. Also, according to the residents of the microdistrict, advertisements for the sale of future apartments were posted, and one of the design organizations of the city received a project for a new house.

Deputy of the 4th convocation Sergey Savin, director of the MU "Legal Administration" in Zarechny, joined the people's movement. Despite his position, Sergei Alexandrovich listened to public opinion and helped people.

It was thanks to the high legal qualifications of the deputy that new appeals were drawn up to the city prosecutor's office and gross errors in the translation of the school stadium's land were found.

It turns out that according to paragraph 5 of Art. 13 “On the Basic Guarantees of the Rights of the Child in the Russian Federation” of Federal Law No. 124, the procedure for changing the purpose of property that is municipal property associated with the goals of education, development, recreation and rehabilitation of children is established by local governments, subject to the preliminary creation of property sufficient to ensure the specified goals.

In addition, according to paragraph 2 of Art. 13 of this law, the adoption by a local government body of a decision to liquidate an object of social infrastructure for children is allowed on the basis of a positive conclusion of the commission for assessing the consequences of such a decision for ensuring the life, education, development, recreation and rehabilitation of children.

As it turned out, the Department of Education of Zarechny did not and never had any decision of the commission!

During personal meetings with the head of the city, with the developer, representatives of the councils, together with deputy Savin, expressed their serious attitude to fight for the rights of children.

The councils of the microdistrict and parents currently represent the interests of more than a thousand residents. They indicated: if necessary, people will go to court, go to rallies, pickets, set up a tent camp at the stadium, as they say, stand up for the interests of children.

As a result, in a dispute between the public and the developer, justice prevailed.

The head of LLC "Remstroymontazh" Bukin refused to build in favor of the rights and legitimate interests of children.

The Neighborhood and Parent Councils consider the stadium's cancellation to be a turning point in the city's history.

Let this victory be the beginning of the revival of the city of happy childhood.

At the moment, the stadium needs some repair and reconstruction, improvement, which is included in the further plans of the active residents of the city of Zarechny”.

The material was prepared with the assistance of the Union of Parents "Together".