According to Klitschko's plans, an underground parking lot for 320 vehicles is set to be constructed on Starokyivska Hill
The city authorities intend to build an underground parking garage beneath the Landscape Alley: the land commission of the Kyiv City Council approved the corresponding detailed territorial plan on November 13.
The site, which will also accommodate a radiation shelter in addition to the parking, is located within several protected zones, including the State Historical and Cultural Reserve "Old Kyiv." The Kyiv City State Administration asserts that the law does not prohibit construction in this area, while the Ministry of Culture and Strategic Communications insists that the destruction of an archaeological monument for the sake of a parking lot is unacceptable.
What arguments both sides present and what exactly they plan to build on the protected Starokyivska Hill was investigated by Kashtan NEWS.
3 What the detailed plan promises
According to the detailed territorial plan, published on the Kyiv City Council website, the underground parking will be located at Kiyanyvskyi Lane, 13-21. This is a plot of land covering 2.37 hectares, which includes part of the park areas along the Landscape Alley and in the Hontsy-Kozhumyaky area. The structure that the city authorities intend to build in this area is planned to be used as a parking lot for 320 vehicles and as a radiation shelter for 1650 people. Additionally, a public (office) building with an area of 2000 sq. m is to be erected next to the parking garage.
4 The project authors claim that the underground parking beneath the Landscape Alley will be integrated into the existing terrain, which "will allow for the preservation of the current scale of development, will not create additional architectural accents or dominants that would disrupt the traditional character of the historic environment, and will allow the ground part of the site adjacent to the park area to be used for children's play and recreation areas."
Moreover, the city administration promises to conduct comprehensive landscaping of the area – including greening, pathways, and the creation of an accessible environment.
Archaeological monuments and "low-value construction"
However, despite the rosy prospects painted by the authors and the Kyiv City State Administration, the parking project in the historic center of Kyiv has elicited a rather ambiguous reaction from the public. The main issue is that the future underground structure will be situated on the territory of four archaeological sites:
- the cultural layer "City of Yaroslav" (a national archaeological monument);
- the historical landscape of the Kyiv Hills and the Dnieper Valley (a local landscape and history monument);
- a settlement and burial ground from the 5th-13th centuries and 9th-13th centuries (a local archaeological monument);
- the cultural layer "Kopyriv End" from the 10th-13th centuries (a local archaeological monument).
Thus, any excavation during construction carries a non-zero probability of disturbing archaeological layers, which represent considerable cultural and historical value. Meanwhile, the city authorities prefer to focus not on what lies beneath the ground, but on what can be seen on the surface.
5 On the surface of this section of Kiyanyvskyi Lane, there is what the project authors refer to as "low-value construction" – garages and single-story utility buildings. As stated by the Kyiv City State Administration, these structures were mostly built illegally during Soviet times and represent "not only a violation of regulatory requirements but also a threat to engineering networks and structures, as well as a devaluation of the historical and urban significance of the area."
In contrast, the planned parking facility, according to the city administration, will provide parking spaces and shelter for residents and visitors of the nearby areas during air alerts. Regarding the office building, it is planned to be built on the site of the current residential building, which, as the project authors claim, will not only comply with established heritage protection norms but will also contribute to the preservation of the historic environment.
A cat in a bag
In fact, it is the aforementioned office building, or rather its construction, which is modestly referred to as a "reconstruction" in the project, that raises concerns no less than the potential destruction of archaeological monuments. Since in the language of Kyiv developers, the term "reconstruction" usually means the complete demolition of the old building and the construction of a new one (as happened, in particular, with the notorious Kharychkov House on Yaroslavska), there is a risk that something completely different could emerge in place of the small single-story house near the Landscape Alley.
6 Adding to the suspicion is the fact that the number of floors in the future building is not specified in the detailed plan. Only the area of this "cat in a bag" is known – 2000 square meters, which is quite sufficient for the construction of yet another high-rise building, for example. The promises of the Kyiv City State Administration not to disrupt the "traditional character of the historic environment" often remain just promises, but in the case of the Landscape Alley, the danger lies not only in the potential high-rise building spoiling the beautiful view.
As noted in a comment to Kashtan NEWS by renowned Ukrainian geomorphologist Volodymyr Stetsiuk, erecting high-rise buildings on plots with such terrain requires great caution.
“Intensive intervention in the relief can trigger exogenous geological processes, and they will distort the place where the construction is taking place,” he said.
The scientist points out that to accurately determine what will happen to the relief of Kiyanyvskyi Lane as a result of construction, the project needs to be thoroughly studied. However, he sees nothing wrong with the idea of an underground parking garage. In his opinion, such structures are generally a good solution for Kyiv, as evidenced by similar parking facilities in large cities across Europe.
“They are not visible from above, they are very well designed, they have elevators, and everything that should be there. If there is such a parking facility in Kyiv, who does it hinder if it is not visible from above? The issue is different – high-rise buildings or those that disrupt, say, the stability of the terrain, the stability of the slopes. After all, the slopes there are very steep, multi-layered, composed of different rocks. Careful consideration is needed regarding what and where to avoid destabilizing these slopes,” he said.
Response from the Ministry of Culture
At the same time, heritage protectors approach the prospect of building a "bunker-parking" with much less optimism. On November 14, the Ministry of Culture and Strategic Communications warned the Kyiv City State Administration against the destruction of archaeological monuments during construction.
“Preservation of cultural heritage is an element of national security. The destruction of a national archaeological monument for the sake of building an underground parking lot on Starokyivska Hill is unacceptable,” states a post published on the official Facebook account of the Ministry of Culture.
7 On the evening of that day, the press service of the Kyiv City State Administration published a clarification assuring that the city administration would strictly adhere to heritage protection legislation. In particular, Klitschko's office promised that archaeological studies would be conducted before the commencement of work on the site. This indeed complies with the requirements of the legislation, particularly the Law of Ukraine "On the Protection of Archaeological Heritage." However, it should be noted that in practice, allowing archaeologists access to the future construction site does not guarantee that researchers will be allowed to complete their studies.
Who will pay for the feast?
Another equally important question is whose money the city administration plans to use to implement its grand underground (and possibly above-ground) plans. The estimated cost of constructing the parking facility is assessed at 255 million in the proposed detailed territorial plan.
Where the Kyiv City State Administration intends to source these funds has not yet been disclosed. Meanwhile, experts from the public organization "Passengers of Kyiv" believe that such parking facilities are not particularly profitable, making it unlikely that private investors will join the project.
“An example can be the semi-empty unprofitable Zoo Parking with 435 spaces, which, with a cost of 255 million UAH, earns a maximum of 6.2 million UAH per year. In its most successful year, an average of 180 cars were parked daily – 41 percent of the total number of spaces. At the same time, many necessary initiatives for the development and improvement of public transport in the Kyiv City State Administration are blocked or delayed. This, of course, once again confirms the erroneous priorities in the city's transport policy,” writes the organization's Telegram channel.
Vox populi
Meanwhile, as reported by Kyiv City Council member Yevhenia Kule