Photos: Zarko Marinov
The municipal council in Nedelino gave the green light for the merger of two private plots with a street property, which is located on a terrain with a history of flooding. The decision paves the way for the development of a detailed urban plan for a total of 1,283 square meters, on which Nikolay and Radoslava Marangozovi plan to build a guest house in a neighborhood with painful memories of floods. The mayor’s motives and the councilors’ decision do not mention the street’s obsolete purpose and the risk of flooding, but emphasize the investor’s generosity to the municipality.
A public street that enters a private UPI
With a decision dated November 28, the Municipal Council authorizes the development of a detailed development plan – a regulation and construction plan for three properties with identifiers 51319.502.394, 51319.502.395, and 51319.502.396 on the cadastral map of the town of Nedelino. The first two are private, owned by Nikolay and Radoslava Marangozovi, and the third is designated under the current street plan and is public municipal property.
At the request of Marangozovi, the municipality agreed to reduce the area of the street property by 176 square meters and to form a new regulated land property with a total area of 1,283 square meters for low-rise construction. The planned indicators are a density of up to 60 percent, an intensity of up to 1.2, and a maximum height of up to 10 meters. Thus, the street, which according to the plan separates the two private plots, “flows” into the future regulated land plot together with the stream that runs through it.
In Mayor Boyan Kehayov’s report, property 51319.502.396 is described as a street property – public municipal property. There is no mention that the street designation has been removed or that the municipality no longer needs this land for public access. The question of how public municipal property will become part of a private yard and under what conditions has not been discussed either.
The stream that has flooded the neighborhood twice
The “street” is actually a stream that carries water from the mountain to the Nedelinska River. Residents remember two major floods, in 1991 and 2005, associated with this particular watershed.
Deputy Mayor Zdravko Dimitrov mentioned this risk during the debate in the hall. “I live in this neighborhood, and the person in question is a close friend of mine. No one disputes the qualities of this person and what he will invest. We are connecting an existing stream to his property, which will become private property. Over the years, this stream in the Chukata area has caused so many problems for the entire neighborhood, mud deposits,” he told the councilors.
Dimitrov sets a condition that sounds more like a gentleman’s agreement than a legal protection mechanism.
“If Mr. Marangozov commits to not affecting the houses and adjacent land, I have no objection to him investing,” he adds. In the same statement, he warned: “We are giving him the opportunity to consolidate the property and acquire ownership of the ravine, which is dangerous for the streets, the houses, and those who live in this neighborhood.”
Despite acknowledging the danger, the report does not contain a hydrological analysis, an assessment of the risk of future floods, or opinions from competent water authorities. Neither reinforcement structures nor guarantees that the conductivity of the stream will remain ensured in the event of future construction are discussed.
Guest house on the watercourse
The Marangozovs have announced their intention to invest in the construction of a guest house. By combining the two private properties with the street property-stream, the future building will “stand” on land that actually serves to drain water during floods.
The council’s decision allows for dense construction on or immediately adjacent to the stream, without it being clear how the protection of neighboring houses and the street network will be ensured. The Water Act requires a special regime for water bodies and their adjacent areas, and the Disaster Protection Act obliges municipalities to limit the risk of flooding, not increase it. In this case, however, the councilors are relying on future informal commitments by the investor rather than formal guarantees laid down in the project.
There remains the bigger question of whether the stream that carries water to the Nedelinska River falls under the category of public state property as part of the river network. If so, the municipality has no authority to “take it over” as private property by changing the regulations.
The donor who “deserves” the PUP (detailed development plan)
Instead of arguing about the legal arguments regarding the status of the street and the stream, some of the councilors point out something else – Marangozov’s donation to the municipality. “I will unconditionally support this young man who wants to make a PUP for the simple reason that there are few people, our people, who are abroad and are well off financially, and come here to invest. It would be a grave mistake on the part of the municipal council and the municipal administration to prevent him from doing so,” said municipal councilor Dr. Rumen Mladenov (BSP).
He also explicitly mentioned what he had heard about Nikolay Marangozov’s donations. “I hear from people, it is not official information, that this young man is active, participating in various types of sponsorship in the municipality, such as the construction of a ritual house for washing the dead, trees in the village, on the sidewalks, and annually supplies pesticides to disinfect the cemetery parks, not only in Nedelino, but also in the municipality,” said Mladenov, adding that he would support anyone who invests in Nedelino “with both hands.”
Mayor Boyan Kehayov did not deny these facts, but confirmed them.
“The person is a regular donor. All the green vegetation in the cemetery park along the fence is a donation from Nikolay Marangozov, the cherry trees in the center of the town, of which there are over 60, are a donation. Every year, he donates flower bulbs and plant protection products. And in the last donation campaign for the room for washing dead people, he donated 1,000 leva,” he said in the hall.
Thus, in the official debate on an urban planning decision, the focus was not on the legally established criteria for public interest, nor on the warnings of Deputy Mayor Dimitrov, but on the merits of a regular donor and the desire “not to interfere with him.” By law, municipal councillors and the mayor have a duty to avoid any private interest that may influence their decisions. Instead, the debate in the chamber showed that the decision was one of gratitude to a donor rather than protection of the public interest.
