Valtenesi Aligns Municipalities for Sustainable Commercial Development
The Valtenesi is seeking a unified criterion to regulate the commercial development of the sector: a significant novelty that sees the seven Municipalities of this important tourist area putting aside their “sovereignty” to consider the future of the commercial prospects of the Garda tourist zone holistically.
The mayors have entrusted the Policleto institute of Brescia with a study on the current commercial realities of the Valtenesi and its future needs: the idea is to establish a general rule that the administrations commit to following when planning urban and commercial projects.
Explicitly requested by the new regional law n. 14, which gives Municipalities six months (from the publication of the implementing decree) for the development of these tools, they are based on the connection between commercial and urban planning aspects in managing the issuance of new licenses.
And the mayors of Valtenesi have decided to arrive at these guidelines with common programming directives shared by all local authorities in the area.
Origins and objectives of the initiative
The idea, adopted by all the first citizens of Valtenesi, originated from Gianfranco Comincioli, mayor of Puegnago, a town that in recent months has been at the center of much controversy regarding the possible opening of a new shopping center.
This is also likely where the desire to better understand the current commercial landscape of the sector emerged, with the aim of planning the future more effectively.
“What we expect from the study by the Policleto Institute are general criteria to adhere to when developing urban and commercial plans,” explains Comincioli. “Of course, each municipality will still maintain its planning autonomy, but there will be convergence towards the general rule that will dictate the needs of the entire Valtenesi sector.”
In essence, the overall planning should prevent situations where what a Municipality prohibits within its territory could materialize just a few meters away: especially in an area like Valtenesi, where the increasingly large summer tourist flows risk exaggerating the area’s true commercial needs and making residents pay for the mistakes of this overexpansion.
Tourist development and commercial strategies
“Valtenesi is a rapidly developing tourist destination,” says Isidoro Bertini, mayor of Manerba. “But this tourist reality is peculiar: the heavy influx during the three summer months might suggest that commercial activities are insufficient, yet these same activities are excessive during the winter months.”
For this reason, I believe that Valtenesi should move toward limiting new openings along the state road. What is needed is to encourage specialized, high-quality commercial development in the historic centers.”
Underlying all this is genuine satisfaction with the convergence and willingness of the mayors to address such a delicate issue.
The Valtenesi, an area divided into seven administrations, can be considered as a sort of “city” with just over 15,000 inhabitants.
It also faces common problems, needs, and emergencies, which are being approached increasingly in a unified manner: in addition to the commercial plan, the mayors have collectively decided on the management of aqueducts and waste, on the innovative “security project,” based on GSM technology, and on the state road 572, with a request that has led to an agreement with the Province for improving the traffic flow on the Desenzano-Salo route.
