The urban improvement regulations are to be revised in Mykolaiv so as not to impose additional requirements on businesses

The Mykolaiv City Council building. Photo: NikVesti

The Mykolaiv City Council’s Commission on Legal Affairs has recommended setting up a working group to finalise the draft of new city improvement regulations.

Committee members voted in favour of this recommendation during a meeting on 23 September, according to NikVesti.

Ihor Nabatov, Deputy Director of the Department of Urban Services at the Mykolaiv City Council, reminded the committee members present that the current regulations on urban improvement in Mykolaiv were approved in 2013. The city authorities are now proposing to update them due to changes in legislation, particularly in the areas of waste management and urban improvement, as well as changes in the organisation of municipal services.

He explained that the new document is intended, in particular, to regulate the issue of areas that are not actually assigned to specific enterprises or other entities. According to him, the draft defines zones of responsibility and the areas that various entities are required to maintain.

According to Ihor Nabatov, the draft has already undergone a legal review and public consultation. A number of comments and suggestions were received. Some of these were taken into account during the preparation of the document.

«We have, in fact, held a public consultation on these urban improvement rights and received a considerable number of comments and suggestions. Particularly interesting were the comments and proposals from Olha Vynohradova regarding issues related to inclusion. Around 90 per cent of the proposals she put forward were incorporated into the urban development provisions of this final draft resolution. There were also other proposals which were considered but not fully incorporated; however, they were reflected in some of the amendments,» said Ihor Nabatov.

At the same time, during the meeting, Oleksandr Skotnikov, a representative of business owners and a lawyer, drew attention to provisions relating to the placement of outdoor advertising and signs. In particular, the solicitor stated that certain provisions might require business owners to provide additional documents and undergo approval procedures not explicitly stipulated by law.

«Well, for example, under paragraph 62 of Decision №1528, you first need a façade design certificate, then a certified architect, approval of the certificate, and then the sign design. And this immediately raises the question: which specific Ukrainian law grants the right to require an entrepreneur to provide such a mandatory document and undergo such an approval procedure for an ordinary sign? In other words, there is no such provision in any legislation,» the lawyer noted.

The chair of the committee, Olena Kiseliova (chair of the «European Solidarity» party) noted that she is not prepared to sign a conclusion on the compliance of the draft regulatory act with the requirements of the law if the document imposes an additional financial or administrative burden on business owners and residents.

«I certainly do not want the urban planning regulations to become a nightmare for our city’s residents, nor do I want these regulations to impose an additional financial or administrative burden on them or to create even more conflicts,» she said.

Following the discussion, the committee members supported the proposal to set up a working group comprising members of the relevant committees, representatives of the public and experts in the relevant fields. The group is to review the comments and prepare the final text of the urban improvement regulations.

It should be recalled that in August 2026, the city council revisited the issue of updating the urban improvement regulations: it was initially reported that the new regulations would enable the punishment of offenders for excessive noise in the city, for which special measuring devices are to be purchased.

Earlier, also in August 2026, it was reported that the document had been submitted to the city council session for approval.

Prior to that, in July 2026, it was reported that the revised version of the regulations, which is set to replace the 2007 document, proposes the introduction of mandatory CCTV cameras and new requirements for building façades, as well as updated approaches to accessibility, waste management and the responsibilities of building owners.