Lonato Opposes New Shopping Center Project in Montichiari Area
In recent years, they have sprung up all over, causing serious repercussions on small businesses and, at times, on traffic flow. Even these days, updates are not lacking. While developments regarding the center proposed in the Campagnoli area are awaited, the ulivist City Council of Lonato has taken a stance against the project of the large shopping center “Isola Verde,” which is supposed to be built on the former Valentini area in the municipality of Montichiari.
On Wednesday morning, a first meeting of the Conference of Services was held in the Region, attended also by representatives from the Municipalities of Castiglione and Lonato. Both assessors, Roberto Moratti for the Mantuan administration and Roberto Baruffolo for the Brescia administration, submitted a resolution containing a negative opinion regarding the issuance of the authorization to open the center, whose project has been presented by «Costruzioni Commerciali» srl from Orio al Serio (Bergamo).
Project details and opposition from local authorities
The project dates back to March 5, 1993, when the Bergamasque company submitted an application to build a commercial center of 37,000 square meters, of which 12,000 would be allocated to food sales and the remaining 25,000 to non-food sales. After eight years without any initiatives, the project was recently revived with a different surface area (20,000 sqm).
Both Confesercenti of Brescia and that of Mantova have expressed disapproval. Now, the two neighboring municipalities near Montichiari are following suit. In particular, the resolution of the Lonato council supports that “it is not possible to consider two requests with different assumptions and contents, while the Municipality of Montichiari has not yet adopted a proper variation to adapt to the general criteria established by the Region for the location of commercial activities, and therefore, the opening of medium and large structures cannot be permitted.”
It is clear that behind this sharply negative opinion on the new shopping center lies a necessary choice for the Perini administration: to protect the retail trade sector of Lonato, which has already been severely tested by the centers that have been established or are planned, such as the one in Campagnoli.
We recall that in the Valentini area of Montichiari, a project is planned to build a hypermarket, a multiplex cinema, and a leisure activity center. For small businesses, this would be, as we said, a severe blow.
