Instrument

Urban transformations may concern: change of use of the building and variations to town plan. Any work must comply the with city planning and sectoral legislation (Art. 12, 22 and 23, D.P.R. no. 380 of 2001). In order to fulfil the authorisation procedures concerning works it may be necessary to pay development fees, monetisation costs or other administrative fees. Each Municipality may establish a different amount for the aforementioned costs, according to the kind of works to be carried out.

Procedure

Amendments of the Use of the Building

If the investor intends to amend the use of a property into one of those  allowed by planning regulations, he shall submit a specific request to obtain the required authorisation for the amendment of the use (submitting a Building SCIA, a certified notification of commencement of the activity signed by a technician, where declaring that the works are going to start, is usually sufficient).

By submitting a Building SCIA, the investor/owner may be forced to fit with urban standards (parking lots, green areas) or to monetise them (pay the Municipality an alternative amount).

Any kind of transformation (including the change of use of the building) to be put in place on cultural property is made conditional upon prior authorisation in accordance with Art. 21 and 22, D.L. no 42 of 2004 as amended or added. The cultural authorisation is issued by the competent authority (Suprintendence) upon presentation of a project or, when sufficient, of a technical description of the works, both submitted by the applicant, and it could include provisions. If the works do not begin within five years from the granting of the authorisation, the Superintendent may set out provisions or integrate or modify the current ones in relations to changing conservation techniques.

When the transformation involves buildings and/or areas having landscape interest and beeing protected by law, the authorisation process is regulated by Art. 146, D.L. no. 42 of 2004 as amended or added. The landscape authorisation, as well as the cultural one, is an autonomous permit and, with some exception, it must be obtained before any building permit or any other permits allowing works on the building. It is effective for a period of five years and, once expired, any further building project must be newly authorised.

Amendments to Urban Planning Regulations

If the investor intends to amend the use of a property into one not allowed by current and/or adopted planning regulations in the area in which it is located, he can submit a request of “amendments to Urban Planning Regulations” to the competent Municipal authority. Pursuant to Art. 10, L no. 1150 of 1942 as amended or added, any amendment to the urban plan must be approved with the same procedure established for the approval of the original plan and, as such, it will follow the same administrative process. Given that sector-specific rules for territory management fall under the competence of the Region, the applicant shall abide by regional legislation in order to follow the specific procedure laid out to obtain an amendment of the urban plan.

An alternative tool which can be used for amending the urban plan is the so-called Programme Agreement (Accordo di Programma): an unanimous agreement between competent public administrations aiming at approving the projected urban planning amendments. The agreement must be approved by the City Council of the competent Municipality.

More specifically, the President of the Region, the President of the Province or the Mayor may, with regards to primary or prevalent responsibility on the transformation, promote the conclusion of the Programme Agreement, even at the request of one or more stakeholders in order to ensure the coordination of actions and to establish time, modalities, financing and any other relevant obligation.

The Programme Agreement is made up by the following prodromal phases:

• In order to verify the feasibility of the Programme Agreement , the President of the Region, the President of the Province or the Mayor shall preliminary convene a conference with the representatives of all concerned administrations;
• The agreement must be approved by formal resolution by the President of the Region, the President of the Province or the Mayor, and has to be published in the Region’s official bulletin;
• Once adopted via decree of the President of the Region, the agreement determines eventual and consequent amendments to the planning regulations and substitutes building authorisations, if and only if the concerned Municipality agrees to the amendments. In this case, however, the plan must be ratified by the City Council within 30 days on pain of forfeiture;
• The Programme Agreement‘s approval entails a declaration that works are made pursuant to the public interest and cannot be delayed. This declaration ceases its effects if no work is implemented within a period of three years.

Following the signature of the Programme Agreement , the property has gained the use which is functional to its development , so that a Redevelopment Long Lease or Transfer of Surface Rights can be immediatly put in place, thus avoiding the planning risk to be burden by the investor.

As such, the Programme Agreement can be very helpful for those properties that require the integrated and coordinated action of Municipalities, Provinces and Regions, as well as State administrations and other public entities in order to completely fulfil the development projects.

For further details, please see the following table.

Timing

In case of amendment of the use without amending the urban planning regulations, 30-90 days (taking into account also the possible need of an authorisation request to the Superintendency).

In case of amendment to urban planning regulations, the completion time depends on the Region, and are usually quite long (240-270 days).

Costs

The private investor shall mainly bear all costs related to the preparation of any documentation required for presenting the Building SCIA, including any secretariat costs, as well as those related to eventual development fees, monetisation costs or other fees concerning the works.