Amendments to the Land Code of Ukraine: New Rules for Land Planning and Use

The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has adopted the landmark Law No. 2280 “On Amending the Land Code of Ukraine and Other Legislative Acts Regarding Land Use Planning.” This document fundamentally changes approaches to territorial development and land resource management at the community level.

The law aims to create a transparent mechanism that combines the interests of the state, business, and private individuals in the field of land use.

What issues does the new law regulate?

The main goal of the legislative innovations is the introduction of comprehensive spatial planning. This avoids the need to develop several parallel types of documentation for land management and architecture.

The Law regulates the following critical aspects:

• Clear establishment of boundaries for territorial communities.
• Regulation of the formation of an electronic cartographic basis for planning.
• Ensuring a real link between socio-economic development programs and spatial planning documentation.
• Creating a transparent mechanism for considering public and private interests through open public hearings.

Law No. 2280 effectively eliminates the need to develop several documents with similar content, which significantly simplifies bureaucratic procedures for communities and investors.

Key provisions and new community powers

Legislative changes provide local communities with more tools to manage their resources while imposing new requirements on architectural authorities.

In particular, the provisions of the Law provide for:

1. Creation of local urban planning authorities: Communities can now independently set urban planning conditions and restrictions across their entire territory.
2. Simplified change of land purpose: This applies to plots where a private building already exists, as well as residential/public development and industrial lands.
3. Adjustment of functional zones: The possibility of updating old master plans through detailed plans of territories (excluding protected and coastal zones).
4. Change of purpose for highly valuable lands: Specifically for strategic industrial objects.

A transitional period has also been established. Urban planning documentation, the development of which began before the law entered into force, can be completed under the old rules.

Updated requirements for urban planning data

The law has significantly expanded the list of data that developers are required to consider when creating territorial plans. Special attention is paid to cultural heritage.

Developers must now mandatory obtain data on:

• World Heritage sites, their territories, and buffer zones.
• Cultural heritage monuments, including archaeological sites and their protection zones.
• Boundaries and usage regimes of historical areas of populated places.
• Protected archaeological territories and historical-cultural reserves.

This innovation will help avoid chaotic development in historical city centers and preserve the cultural code of Ukrainian settlements.

Conclusion and legal support

Changes in the Land Code are a step toward transparency, but they require high qualifications in documentation. Legal support at the planning stage will help avoid conflicts with the law and the community in the future.