An urban land lease seminar in Pryluky, Chernihiv Oblast, on April 24, 2007, went beyond its scope and time limits initially announced, as the audience did not let the speaker go for three hours.
The Pryluky City Rada organized the seminar for Rada members, relevant city government officers, and representatives from NGO’s – a total of about 50 persons – following the development of a draft Regulation on Land Lease Auctions and Tenders. The only invited speaker was Volodymyr Nosik, Legal Advisor with the USAID Local Economic Development (LED) project.
“They sent me the draft a couple of days before the seminar, asked me to have a look at it and say if they can work with the document, make a presentation for Rada members, and answer all possible questions,” says Mr. Nosik.
Upon arrival in Pryluky, Mr. Nosik learned that he would solo and suggested to throw light on a wider range of issues, including legal aspects of implementation of economic development plans. “The seminar began at 3:00 p.m., and they didn’t let me go until 6:00 p.m. Originally, it had been expected that this would take an hour,” Mr. Nosik observed.
According to the expert, there was a variety of questions asked. What should the City Rada do when residents of a house or a neighborhood disagree with construction of a facility near their abode? How public hearings must be held, and what is their legal effect on land allotment for residential and municipal development? How should a dispute be lawfully resolved when an investor wants to buy a land plot under a property complex at a price as per appraisal, whereas the Rada wants to sell it at a much higher price?
On Saturday, Pryluky Deputy Mayor Nadia Yeremenko told the LED Monitor, “The seminar was very useful. Actually, City Rada members do not have a clear apprehension of land law issues; they don’t realize too well which steps need to be done to improve the effectiveness of land resource management.”
She said the seminar was her idea: invite a first-class “nonpartisan” expert to make the Rada members look at the matter from another angle and understand its importance.
After the seminar, Mr. Nosik had a meeting with Mayor Yuriy Berkut, who had just returned from a business trip and thus was not able to attend the event. As a result, the Mayor decided to speed up solution of a number of issues shelved time after time, Ms. Yeremenko said.
Pryluky is one of the LED project’s target cities. In 2005, LED helped the city to draft its Economic Development Strategic Plan, which the City Rada approved on Sept. 29, 2005. Nadia Yeremenko was in charge of the effort on the part of the city hall. She said she is one of few officers who “survived” the 2006 elections and ensuing changes in the local government.
