Provincial Urban Planning Criticizes Riva-Torbole Zoning Plan
For thirty-three pages, vice president of the provincial urban planning commission, Roberto Bertoldi, lists a mountain of observations made by the provincial urbanists regarding the intermunicipal zoning plan of Riva and Torbole.
Then, on page 34, the conclusions, which are very harsh. Essentially, the PRG (Piano Regolatore Generale) does not hold up, there are contradictory aspects, uncertainties, and an excess of buildable area. The development model proposed by the urban planning instrument raises concerns.
The final line contains a call to the municipal administration to get back to work to remedy the deficiencies “in order to give the new PRG a definitive shape.” This could mean a further delay, in an uncertain but definitely distant future, of the plan.
Assessments and Criticism of the Plan
The voices that for months have continued to announce, with all the conditional mood of unofficial sources, that the CUP (Consiglio Urbanistico Provinciale) was tearing the PRG apart have found broad confirmation. In the closing part of the document sent to the relevant municipal administrations, it states a “substantially critical judgment on the aspects underlying both the analyses and the land transformation modalities.”
“The settlement model is not in line with the Provincial Urban Plan with respect to the need to limit quantitative development and instead focus on the quality of economic growth and urban transformation.”
In plain language, this means that the PRG allows for excessive construction with little regard for environmental protection.
This concept reappears just a few lines below, in the conclusion: “Based on the uncertainties highlighted above, the lack of justification supporting building choices, the weak adherence of landscape criteria, and the poor relationship with the Provincial Urban Plan, (the commission) expresses reservations about the proposed development model and therefore urges the administration to make an additional effort in light of this vote to give the new PRG a definitive form.”
According to some sectors of the majority itself, the rejection heavily impacts the overall approach Claudio Molinari wanted to give to the drafting of the PRG.
The current provincial assessor, then mayor of Riva, chose to stay out of urban planning decisions to avoid “getting their hands dirty.” The result was a “technical plan” lacking political identity, an overall logic that would identify the essential lines of development and then specify the choices to achieve them.
What will happen now? The decision passes to the executive and the urban planning commission. But the timelines will extend further, by months.
