Before the year 2006, the city of Ostrava started to plan the expansion of the Science and Technology Park (STP Ostrava), as one way of city development and to attract foreign investors. With STP Ostrava, the city could offer thousands of jobs, research spaces and incubators for scientists, and many other benefits for the city. The citizens of the Ostrava-Poruba district, where the park was supposed to be built, as well as the general public welcomed the project, but they disagreed with the location.
The STP Ostrava was to be built on one of the last green spaces in Poruba, the local Forest park. For local citizens, the Forest park is a significant relaxation spot in the city. It represents one of the last green and quiet zones among the built-up parts of the city. Already in 2007 when the Science and Technology Park together with the Technical University of Ostrava (VŠB-TUO) was planned in the Poruba Forest park, the citizens of Poruba started to worry about the possible loss of their favourite recreation area.
The city of Ostrava provided the funding of the project, with a large part of the financing should be obtained from privatizations. The city of Ostrava bought most of the plots where the STP expansion was supposed to be realized from private owners. Meanwhile, independent urban studies determined that the location the STP is not suitable for many reasons. For example, the Ostrava Planetarium is situated near the Forest park and the light pollution from the new buildings and street lights might have a negative impact on its activities.
Despite the disapproval by the experts and the general public, the representatives of the city of Ostrava requested a change in the zoning plan of the area. At the same time, the advisory board of the borough of Poruba did not issue the necessary permission for accessing the lands and starting a construction. Shortly thereafter, the city of Ostrava changed its statue (2013) and weakened the powers of the individual boroughs. In the future, Ostrava will then have the decisive word in important questions regarding science and research or the expansion of industrial zones. With approval of the zoning plan the original arable land of the Forest park was redefined to be land for public services. At the same time, there was a request for the assessment of the investment plan and for an environmental impact assessment plan.
The citizens of Poruba still disagreed with the project and in 2015, a petition committee was created in accordance with the law. Its petition gathered over 10,400 signatures. As a reaction to the petition of Poruba’s citizens and in response to a call from the rector of VŠB-TUO, a team of architects created alternatives for the location of the STP. Their work “Alternative proposal for the location of the STP in Ostrava” lists a few alternative locations, which all would fulfil the basic requirements of the project. The architects mention the disapproval of the Poruba citizens and representatives of the Poruba borough, but also for example the insufficient infrastructure and public services. In May 2016, a discussion on the expansion of the STP took place. The mayor of Poruba, the rector of the VŠB-TUO and a team of architects debated the alternative options with the citizens. The conclusion of the debate was to initiate a study of the feasibility of four alternative locations.
The location for the placement of the STP therefore remains unclear. In November 2016, the borough of Poruba proposed a change in the zoning plan, which redefines the location of the Forest park from a land for public services back to arable land. The entire case therefore remains open.
