Prague - The multinational chain Bauhaus has been planning to build a hobby-market in Brno-Ivanovice for years.
After four years of lawsuits and appeals filed with both City Hall and government authorities, its opponents have come up with a new strategy: They will send postcards to Bauhaus officials.
"As a resident of Ivanovice, I don't consider the hobby-market construction suitable for our district because it will affect the environment and the quality of life in Ivanovice," Czech Bauhaus managers will learn from the postcards. The protesters expect to send hundreds of them.
The Brno-based group Nesehnutí, which had the postcards produced, distributes them to all mailboxes in Brno-Ivanovice. Each citizen can then sign the postcard and send it to Nesehnutí for free. The group will pass the postcards to Bauhaus officials.
The hobby-market would bring 1,500 passenger cars and 10 lorries a day to the quiet district. Besides, the centre would contain an advertising pylon as high as a 12-storey building.
Some 72.6% of Ivanovice residents stood up against the construction of the hobby-market in a poll conducted by students from the Department of Environmental Studies at Masaryk University's Faculty of Social Sciences.
Court may decide too late
Nesehnutí and the Klidné Ivanovice (Quiet Ivanovice) movement filed lawsuits against the zoning decision on the project in 2006. The Regional Court in Brno has not passed a verdict yet.
Bauhaus is likely to apply for a building permit after the summer holidays. If the court does not decide on the lawsuits by the end of the year, and if the authorities issue the permit, Bauhaus can start building.
"Unfortunately, the lawsuits have no suspensive effect that would halt the planning proceedings while the dispute lasts. We have won similar lawsuits several times, but the investor always started to build or even completed the project in the meantime," said Jiří Koželouh from Nesehnutí.
1.6 sq m of shopping space per citizen
Brno City Hall says the city has about 1.6 square metres of shopping area per inhabitant. The valid zoning plan recommends only one square metre per head.
"We're not concerned with the 1.6 figure as much as with the huge differences between individual city districts. For instance, Brno-South exceeds the limit 12 times. In other places people don't have access to shops and must travel far," said Koželouh.
Neither the Ivanovice planning office nor Brno City Hall have raised objections against the Bauhaus project, although its opponents say the new hobby-market will exceed the limit on maximum commercial space in the area.
The zoning plan earmarks 10,000 square metres for shopping space in the location, but Nesehnutí says the new Bauhaus will have more than 11,000, although the developer denies this.
Like political prisoners
A total of 483 households will get an info leaflet and two postcards with pre-printed texts from Nesehnutí. More will be available in local restaurants and public facilities.
Amnesty International uses postcards as a manifestation of public opinion and as a we-know-about-you-style warning in its campaign against dictators and regimes suppressing democracy.
Nesehnutí usually relies on emails, but it has now resumed with postcards after several years. "I have no idea what Bauhaus will do with them. In any case, they will know they are being watched," says Koželouh.
Locals will also have an opportunity to protest the hobby-market within the planning proceedings. A leaflet landing in their mailboxes on Wednesday and Thursday will tell them how to do that.
Adapted and republished by Prague Daily Monitor
