Successful zoning brings new residents

Imatra needs new residents. However, residents will not be attracted to the city if they cannot be offered work and an attractive living environment.

Zoning's task is to ensure that Imatra is able to offer these.

- We have to prepare for the future and diversify the land supply so that it meets the needs of both the business world and residents, planning architect Kaija Maunula says.

Versatile residential plots

In accordance with the city's strategy, efforts are being made to attract new residents, especially among young migrants in their twenties and thirties. To attract this group, the city must offer lots and homes that allow for modern living.

They are coming, for example, to the block of the parish center, where apartment building plots with Vuoksi views are planned.

- There would also be demand for detached house lots. For example, we would need plots on which we could build a small house and engage in urban farming, says Maunula.

Beach plots would also be attractive. This was demonstrated by the city's test marketing campaign last spring, where 212 respondents expressed their interest in plots located on the shores of Saimaa. Half of them came from outside the province.

Nature and cultural history do not remain under construction

The zoning arouses a lot of emotions in the municipal residents. Doubts about nature values ​​being forgotten and the landscape being destroyed under new construction often come up in the discussion.

The loss of nature is a concern, especially in the beach plot discussion: many Imatra residents fear that an undeveloped beach is a disappearing wealth.

- Even if beach plots were to be zoned, there would also be plenty of natural beach left for city dwellers to use for recreation, says Maunula.

- Planning is coordinating things. Nature and cultural values ​​are always taken into account as a whole.

Municipalities' opinions matter

The zoning of the beaches moved a step forward on Monday, December 14, when the city government decided to add sites that enable beach construction to the zoning program.

There are also several other zoning processes underway or about to begin.

- The wider plan changes of the Imatrankoski and Vuoksenniska areas are about to start. Their goal is to secure even more comfortable downtown areas for both entrepreneurs and residents. In addition, for example, the new general plan will enter the draft phase at the beginning of the year, planning engineer Timo Könönen says.

Könönen and Maunula encourage municipal residents to participate in planning. Currently on view are, for example, the participation and evaluation plans for Torkelinkatu, Lähti talo and Napinkulma schemes.

- It is often thought that influencing is too late at the stage when the draft plan becomes visible. This is not the case, but then there is an excellent opportunity to influence the details of the formula, Könönen sums up.

Once a month, Imatra opens the background of current affairs on this page. You can influence what topics are discussed. Answer the survey: imatra.fi/taustaslakymä