Master plans on Istanbul’s coastal site found ‘improper’: expert report

Ömer ERBİL ISTANBUL / Radikal

An expert report prepared over 1/5000 and 1/1000 development plans for a coastal area in Istanbul’s Ataköy has found the plans  “improper” in the frame of principles and methods of planning and public welfare.

Istanbul 5th Administrative Court had asked questions in the expert report such as, “Are there compulsory reasons to overhaul the plans?” “Are the development plans mentioned in the case suitable with the upper scale plan?” The court also demanded evaluation whether the plans are convenient with the principles and methods of planning and public welfare regarding its functions, diversity, transportation and environmental effects.

The report, which was submitted as part of a case against the development plans that allow ongoing construction in the area, paves the way for the cancellation of the plans, underlining that the plans were created without considering quake risk and close the coastal area to public use.

The report also stresses that the plans do not include public use of the coastal area, for which it was designated between 1950s and 1980s, before being opened to tourism. Public spaces are crucial for coastal cities in order to let people access the seaside, it added.

The report also mentions the risk of granting permission to buildings of 70 meters’ height in the area.  It said maximum height limits were decided for integrated plans so as to provide a gradual structuring due to elevation, but does not mean the maximum height limit should be applied to coastal areas.

1/5000 master development plan was prepared in absence of the 1/25000 environmental plan, which should have followed the 1/100000 environmental plan, the report also said.

The report also touched on the lack of evaluation regarding the registered trees in the area and adjacent historical sites.

The area of 412,000 square meters was handed over to TOKİ on Dec. 14, 2001, with a protocol signed between Emlakbank and TOKİ. The area was then declared to be an area of tourism and was divided up into parts. The construction started in the area after it was sold and rented with TOKİ’s tender in 2009.

For the ongoing construction on the parcels numbered 160, 174 and 182, Istanbul 9th Administrative Court granted a stay of execution following a complaint by the Chamber of Architects for the cancellation of construction permits, but later overturned the decisions for parcels 174 and 182. Parcel 160 is a historic site which houses the Baruthane buildings and the İskender Çelebi Garden from the Ottoman era.