Buca Prison Land Becomes Green Space

The plan prepared by the Izmir Metropolitan Municipality was approved by the city council with a majority of votes, in order to bring the demolished Buca Prison land to the public with a predominantly green area. Izmir Metropolitan Municipality Mayor, who called on the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change to abandon the plan that increased the zoning density. Tunç Soyer“This is the property of Buca, the people of Izmir, we all have rights. It is our duty to protect this place like our eyes. My humble advice; They should abandon the plan and present it to Buca as a green space”.

The third session of the October ordinary assembly meeting of the Izmir Metropolitan Municipality, President Tunç SoyerIt was made under the direction of. After the demolition of the Buca Prison, the master development plans prepared by the Izmir Metropolitan Municipality, including the arrangement of the land as a recreation and parking area, were approved in the assembly. The plans, prepared in line with the request of the Izmir Metropolitan Municipality Parks and Gardens Department to meet the needs of Buca for public open spaces, were passed by the parliament with the votes of the Republican People's Party and Good Party members against the rejection votes of the AK Party and MHP Group.

“It is our duty to protect”

Speaking about the historical decision taken by the Metropolitan Municipality in order not to spoil the green texture of the city, the Mayor of Izmir Metropolitan Municipality Tunç Soyer“As the Mayor of Izmir Metropolitan Municipality and on behalf of our entire assembly, we would like to express our gratitude to everyone who made a will for the removal of this prison from there. This has been a very valuable step for İzmir. With great appreciation and respect, we would like to greet those who made this decision. But we will never allow a worse urban design to be put forward. Because this is the property of Buca, the people of Buca, the people of Izmir, we all have the right. Therefore, it is our duty to protect it like our eyes. We are all from Izmir and we are trying to protect Izmir. As the Metropolitan Assembly, we act with the public conscience, which is the basis of law before law. And the public conscience envisages us to bring this place to this city as a green space. Public conscience says so. No one with a public conscience can say that there should be no green here," he said.

“Let them give it as a green space”

Continuing his words, President Soyer also addressed the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change and said, “We saw their photos. It's stuck in there. Concrete, building, there is only an empty space in the middle right now. It is our duty to make it a park for future generations. It's that simple. My humble advice to our ministry; If our authorized friends forward it from here… Let them give up. Let them abandon this plan immediately! Let them present this place to Buca as a green space. Because I am sure that our mukhtars, citizens, associations and everyone will raise the voice of objection starting tomorrow. I am sure. We will experience it and we will see it,” he said.

“The state is not just you, the state is everyone”

Providing technical information about the process, CHP Group Deputy Chairman Murat Aydın stated that in the plan prepared by the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change, green areas decreased and concretization increased. Responding to the criticisms from the AK Party and MHP groups and citing the proposal prepared by the Izmir Metropolitan Municipality for the area as an example, Aydın presented the visuals of the two plans to the public. Emphasizing that the plans of the Metropolitan Municipality will increase the green area of ​​Buca, Aydın said, “They say, 'The one who took the horse passed Üsküdar'. They took the horse but did not reach Üsküdar. They said, 'There is no conflict with the state'. This is the understanding of Louis the 14th. It is not today's understanding. The state is not just you. State everyone. If you say, 'We want to build 70 thousand square meters in Buca, we love concrete', get out and tell the people of Buca. Say it frankly," he said. Referring to the metropolitan plans, Aydın said, “We and the people of İzmir want this. That is the essence of the word,” he concluded.

After the speeches were completed, voting took place. In the voting held in the parliament, the decision for the new plans was accepted by a majority of votes.

How did the process proceed?

When the Ministry did not increase the public space, the Metropolitan had prepared plans. While the Buca Prison area was a "prison area" in its first plan approved in 1962, it was planned as a "housing, education and park area" in 1981 with the plan made by the Ministry of Public Works and Settlement. Housing development was brought to the area on this date. In the amendment to the 25/2003 Scale Master Zoning Plan, which was made upon the request of the abolished Ministry of Public Works and Settlement and the Ministry of Justice and approved by the Izmir Metropolitan Municipality on April 1, 5000, some of it was named “Residential Area with Trade Options” and partially “Park, Parking Lot and Housing”. taken into use.

In the 6/2011 scale Master Development Plan Revision, which was approved on September 1, 5000 throughout Buca and is still valid, the plan decision of 2003 was conveyed in the same way, and part of the area was "Secondary Business Centers and Secondary Education Facility Area" and partly "Road, Parking lot, Park and Recreation Area” remained in use.

In the 20/2003 Scale Implementation Plan approved by the Metropolitan Municipality on October 1, 1000 and still in effect, 24 thousand 580 square meters of the said area is a commercial or residential area (total construction area is 36 thousand 780 square meters), 7 thousand 650 square meters are covered. part of it was marked as training facility area, 20 thousand 600 square meters of it was marked as parking area, and 6 thousand square meters of it was marked as parking area.

Finally, on August 9, 2021, the 1/5000 and 1/1000 scaled zoning plan amendment proposal prepared by the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization was submitted to the Izmir Metropolitan Municipality. Metropolitan, in the opinion of the institution, stated that the construction area, which was approximately 40 thousand square meters in the current implementation plan, was increased to 70 thousand square meters, the training area was reduced from 7 thousand 650 square meters to 4 thousand 500 square meters, the parking area of ​​​​about 20 thousand 600 square meters was reduced to 7 thousand 400 square meters, the parking area of ​​​​6 thousand square meters on the other hand, demanded a new regulation by stating that it was completely removed.

At this point, a new plan study was carried out by the Metropolitan Municipality, since there was no work done by the ministry to increase the public space in the relevant plans.