Dubrovnik General Urban Plan dispute

In Dubrovnik, city councilor Viktorija Knežević has raised legal and procedural concerns regarding the city’s General Urban Plan (GUP). Initially, Knežević challenged claims by Mayor Mato Franković that the city could halt all permit processes in protected areas until the new GUP is adopted. She argued that the new plan cannot retroactively cancel construction permit applications that were validly submitted under current zoning laws, noting that the city is legally obligated to process valid requests.

As the debate progressed, Knežević proposed a third alternative to the current impasse. Rather than choosing between the existing flawed plan or proposed amendments that she claims fail to address expert and citizen concerns, she suggested the city could use a special legal procedure to invalidate the current GUP. This would allow for the rapid development of a new plan, a method she noted has been used in other Croatian locations such as Kutjevo, Lipik, and Pula. She warned that adopting a flawed plan to fix later could result in “irreversible legal and spatial consequences.”