09/29/2023 – 21:52
The state court ordered the interruption of construction work on the new headquarters of the Grêmio Recreativo Cultural e Social Escola de Samba Vai-Vai, which is being built on Rua Almirante Marques Leão, in Bela Vista (central region of the capital). The decision is contained in a sentence issued this Friday, the 29th, in a public civil action proposed by the Public Prosecutor’s Office for Housing and Urban Planning in the capital.
The sentence, which is of first instance and allows for appeal, also obliges the association and a construction company to pay R$50,000 as compensation for collective moral damages. The amount must be allocated to the Special Fund for the Defense and Reparation of Diffuse and Collective Interests.
Vai-Vai had a headquarters on Rua São Vicente, which was demolished for the construction of a subway station belonging to the future Line 6. In return, in this agreement signed by Vai-Vai, the construction company would buy another area, chosen by the school of samba, and would build the school’s new headquarters.
An area was chosen on Rua Almirante Marques Leão and Vai-Vai began the bureaucratic procedures to begin the work, but, according to the court decision, it did not collect the necessary fees for the authorization documents to be issued. Even without authorization from City Hall, Vai-Vai and the construction company demolished an existing building on the land and carried out works, which they classified as emergency.
According to the sentence, during the process Vai-Vai claimed that it only started the work without authorization because the City Hall did not respond within the deadline stipulated by law, which would give it the right to start construction. However, according to the Public Ministry of the State of São Paulo, the permit request sent to City Hall remained pending due to non-payment of fees by the samba school itself.
“It cannot be accepted that the defendant obstructed the continuation of the permit procedure and then benefited from it, claiming that there would have been automatic authorization due to the passage of time. The deadline for the City Hall to respond has not even begun, due to the lack of measures taken by the samba school”, wrote judge Gabriela Fragoso Calasso Costa, from the 32nd Civil Court of São Paulo, where the case was processed, in the ruling.
In addition to the lack of authorization to begin the works, the Public Ministry also alleged that the construction does not respect the Master Plan. According to legislation, Special Zones of Social Interest (ZEIS) 3, as in the case of the land purchased by Vai-Vai, must have 60% of the built area dedicated to popular housing.
“Therefore, to respect the zoning of the area, the samba school headquarters would need the project to include a property with part for residential use and part for non-residential use, in the form of the percentage established by law”, stated the MP-SP in the cars.
The Prosecutor’s Office also pointed out that the location was classified as a Traffic Generating Center and, as there is an intention to promote events in the area, there was a need to submit the matter to the Traffic Engineering Company (CET), to prepare a technical report. From then on, it would be necessary for the Municipal Transport Department to issue a certificate of guidelines, with the parameters to be observed in the project project.
The report attempted to contact the defense of the Vai-Vai samba school and the construction company for a position on the decision, which did not occur until the publication of this text. The space remains open to demonstrations.
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