The Chief Inspector of Building Supervision has made a final decision on the construction of the castle in Stobnica, whose investor was the D.J.T. Company. The building permit for the facility, which had been granted to the investors by the Wielkopolska voivode, was declared invalid. The construction of the facility from the very beginning aroused a lot of controversy and suspicion. It was inspected by the CBA and eventually went to the prosecutor's office. Six years after the start of the investment, the GINB has no doubt that the permit should not have been granted.
The case relates to the construction of a castle in Stobnica, in Wielkopolska province and Obornice district, which is being carried out in a "Natura 2000" area. The investor is the Poznan-based company D.J.T., specifically the brothers Dymitr and Tymoteusz Nowak. The company is simultaneously the developer of the investment. In 2015, the investors decided to build a residential castle on the pond area. It was to imitate a medieval castle, have 15 floors and a truss more than 50 meters high, and function as a multi-family residential building. Inside there were to be 46 units, capable of accommodating nearly 100 people. The investors did not provide answers to questions about future residents of the building or tenants. The design of the building was developed by Poznan architect, urban planner, university lecturer Waldemar Szeszuła.
Lack of a number of required documents
The investment, due to its eccentric nature, aroused considerable public interest from the beginning. However, the construction of the castle in Stobnica became particularly notorious in 2018, when the CBA began investigating the correctness of decisions made in the implementation of the project. At the time, the Minister of the Environment instructed the General Director of Environmental Protection to initiate an urgent audit of decision-making regarding the implementation of the investment.
At the end of last year, the then Greater Poland governor, Lukasz Mikolajczyk, declared the validity of the Stobnica construction permit, but according to the Poznan prosecutor's office, there were no grounds for this. On the contrary , serious deficiencies were found, including the incompatibility of the construction project with the local zoning plan, with technical and construction regulations, as well as the lack of a number of required opinions, agreements, permits and inspections. The Public Prosecutor's Office then filed an objection to the issuance of the permit, and the investigation of the investment activities was reopened.
What's more, at the end of last year, the Regional Prosecutor's Office in Poznań filed an indictment in court against six people associated with the construction of the castle. The reasons included certifying untruths, failing to fulfill their duties, and carrying out construction that endangers the environment and conducting construction in violation of the Environmental Protection Act. Among the defendants were officials and representatives of the company, as well as the author of the project. Most of them pleaded not guilty, and construction proceeded.
GINB's final decision
This year, specifically on August 17, new facts emerged in the case. Head of the Organizational Department of the General Office of Building Supervision Joanna Niedźwiecka told the Polish Press Agency that after considering the appeals of the District Prosecutor's Office in Poznań and the Regional Director of Environmental Protection in Poznań, as well as the investor, the General Inspector of Building Supervision annulled the 2015 decision of the Oborniki district governor granting permission for the construction of the castle in Stobnica. In addition, it overruled the contested 2020 decision of the Wielkopolska governor.
Joanna Niedźwiecka stressed that one of the reasons for the invalidation of the construction permit is that the area of the building exceeds the parameters (the area of the investment exceeded 2 hectares) indicated in the Regulation of the Council of Ministers of November 9, 2010 on projects that may significantly affect the environment. Therefore, the construction of the castle was considered a potentially environmentally hazardous investment.
Accordingly, the investor was required to submit a decision on the environmental conditions of the project along with the application for a construction permit. The case file shows that the investor did not obtain such a document, which, in the opinion of the GINB, was grounds for annulling the construction permit decision ," wrote Niedźwiecka.
That's where the case stood. GINB 's decision is final. The parties have the opportunity to appeal it to the Provincial Administrative Court in Warsaw within 30 days of its delivery.
The question, then, is what will happen to the object that is already standing?
