Supreme administrative court overturns zoning decision for Šantovka Tower in Olomouc

The Supreme Administrative Court (Nejvyššího správního soudu - NSS) has ruled that the planned Šantovka Tower in Olomouc will lose its zoning decision, citing a systemic risk of bias among city officials. The verdict, which upholds a cassation complaint filed by the Public Defender of Rights, mandates that the Regional Court in Ostrava review the case and cancel the contested zoning decision. Once annulled, the building permit process will restart under a different administrative authority outside Olomouc.

The Šantovka Tower, a 74-meter residential high-rise featuring 90 apartments, is part of a broader Šantovka district development project planned by the Redstone Group, owned by businessman Richard Morávka. The project, situated on a three-hectare site near the city center, is linked to the existing Galerie Šantovka shopping center. Following the court’s decision, representatives of the Redstone Group declined to comment, stating that they would first review the NSS’s full reasoning before issuing a statement.

Concerns over the tower’s potential impact on Olomouc’s historic skyline have fueled legal challenges for years. The original lawsuit was filed in 2019 by then-Ombudsman Anna Šabatová in the public interest and was later continued by her successor, Stanislav Křeček. The case argued that the Olomouc City Hall’s construction office was systemically biased in favor of the project. Křeček welcomed the NSS’s ruling, emphasizing that public-sector decision-making must remain impartial and free from conflicts of interest.

The case has already faced multiple legal battles, with the regional court rejecting the lawsuit twice. However, the NSS ruled that the level of systemic risk of bias exceeded acceptable limits, making it impossible for Olomouc officials to objectively decide on the project. According to the court, all decision-making officials of the Olomouc construction office should have been excluded from the process, and the case should have been handled by an independent authority.

A key argument in the ruling was that Olomouc city employees were assessing a project tied to a cooperation agreement between the city and the investor, signed in 2010. The developer regularly referenced this agreement, urging the city to uphold its commitments and even hinting at potential legal consequences for non-compliance. The court found that the city’s financial and contractual ties to the project created an economic interest in its approval, undermining the impartiality of officials.

Bias, as assessed from an independent external perspective, raised serious concerns about the fairness of the decision-making process. The NSS highlighted the building’s controversial height and location near the historic city center, noting that the intense public debate surrounding the project would have inevitably influenced local officials. These factors collectively exceeded the threshold of systemic bias, leading to the court’s decision to overturn the zoning permit.

Following the ruling, the Regional Court in Ostrava is now tasked with annulling Olomouc City Hall’s decision, after which a new administrative authority will re-evaluate objections to the project. While the verdict does not outright prevent the construction of Šantovka Tower, it forces the developer to restart the permitting process under stricter scrutiny.

Olomouc City Hall acknowledged the ruling but refrained from further comment, stating that they would wait for the full judgment before determining their next steps. The case marks a significant legal precedent in urban planning disputes, reinforcing the importance of impartiality in zoning and development decisions.

Source: NSS and CTK