DATA BASE
ORGANIZATION AND REGULATION
WHAT IT'S ABOUT
To identify the possibility of intervening in
the regulations in force to propose a simplification and rationalisation,
with particular reference to the activities present in the commercial
area of the Balôn and to the general objective of the "Balôn
in the Centre" action.
At the same time, to evaluate the possibility of qualitatively stimulating and improving the commercial activities present in the area of the Balôn, through the application and improvement of the regulations in force and the targeted use of taxes, rates and tax allowances.
To achieve these results 6 actions have been identified.
1. RIQUALIFICATION OFFICE
It has been noted that there is a widespread inclination on the part of traders to undertake restoration and recovery interventions of their activities. The opening an Office serving as an information and coordination point has facilitated and continues to facilitate the access of traders in the Balôn to financial facilities in the field of building requalification.
This accompaniment role has been entrusted to Società Ascot, which has supported those involved in the compilation and gathering together of all technical-administrative documentation required and in the presentation in unitary fashion of all the applications for financing to the competent organs.
The Office is located at the headquarters of "The Gate Project" in Galleria Umberto I
2. CONSORTIUM FOR THE COMMERCIAL VALORISATION OF THE AREA
The company, Societa Ascot, was commissioned in 1998 to prepare a feasibility study for the creation of a Consortium between the commercial operators for the management of all activities concerning commercial promotion, requalification and growth in the Balôn area. From the results which emerged in the feasibility study the proposal of a consortium appears to be somewhat premature in the light of the current situation. In recent years, furthermore, there has been an attempt to work for the birth of a cohesive spirit among commercial operators, one that could create a sense of belonging to a unique and well-located commercial environment (the Borgo Dora-Balôn area). The multiple requalification possibilities in the area offered by public financing on various fronts have been an excellent and encouraging stimulus in this regard. The work of accompaniment, which has been entrusted, in regard to the fixed traders, to Società Ascot and in regard to itinerant traders, to Metodi Spa, has led to a continually growing coordination among operators which has made it possible to better exploit financing and to stimulate the rebirth of this area.
3. NATURAL COMMERCIAL CENTRE
The Balôn area has the necessary requirements such that it could request that a Natural Commercial Centre (NCC) be recognised within it along the Cottolengo, Lanino, Mameli, Borgo Dora and S.Simone roads. This recognition would offer a series of interesting opportunities for the traders and craftsmen who come together in an association for the commercial development of the Centre itself. In particular it would favour access to regulatory and economic opportunities offered to traders and craftsmen - united together in the "Balôn Consortium" - whose activities are in favour of a Natural Commercial Centre.
Since the creation of a Consortium, as emphasised above, is still premature, the decision has been take to opt for the promotion of a series of requalification interventions which could indirectly contribute to the birth of that sense of belonging to a commercial area which could constitute the basis of a future Consortium. In particular three initiatives have been followed by The Gate project: accompaniment in the opening of new activities (following the Bersani decree); the application to open an ad hoc allocation of licences by the Council (and the consequent accompaniment in the bureaucratic procedures); and coordination in the presentation of applications for financing within the context of the Urban-Borgo Dora Qualification Plan.
4. RENT REDUCTION FOR OCCUPYING PUBLIC LAND (COSAP)
To encourage the direct implementation of requalification or maintenance work in public spaces the regulation on COSAP allows the application of reductions in the case of carrying out work of public interest or utility whose value is determined in the convention itself. The said standard allows the managing entity to carry out interventions on the area following agreement with the Council.
The said possibility has been exploited on two occasions: In regard to the intervention area of The Gate Project, an exemption was obtained, with decision 01293 of 22 February 2000, from the COSAP for occupations with construction site equipment for the maintenance and recovery of the buildings which will open by 31 December 2001. The term has been posponed to 31 december 2002.
Following the serious damage caused by the flood, in particular the inconvenience created by the collapse of the Clotilde di Savoia Bridge, the City of Turin decided, with decision 03563 of 24 April 2001 to concede a reduction of 50% of the payment of rent for occupation of public spaces and areas and for the installation of publicity structures in favour of those commercial activities having their offices in the area defined in the decision. The reduction was conceded from 15 October 2000 until the date of reconstruction of the Bridge. Following the work on the building of the underpass for corso Regina Margherita, on the opening of the worksite for the demolition and reconstruction of clothes market III, on the opening of the worksite for the restoration and conservation with functional recovery of the buildings owned by the Ordine Mauriziano in the Santa Croce block, the City has conceded rates facilitations and reduction of the cosap (decision 04313/13 of 19 JULY 1999) in regard to commercial and artisan activities situated in areas temporarily closed to traffic and therefore liable to suffer damage due to the said works. The provision also includes the area of the Balôn with a reduction of 50% of COSAP for the itinerant trade, the dehors, the "merchandise outside the shop", with the exclusion of the owners of authorisation in compliance with articles 121 and 124 of TULPS, as well as those who display works of creativity. The reduction remained in force until 31/12/2000.
5.MODIFICATION TO THE BALÔN MARKET OPENING HOURS
During the meeting of the workshop of 1998 there emerged the proposal to modify the current opening hours of the Balôn market. The market, in fact, while constituting a strong attraction for the public, suffers from reduced numbers of visitors on Saturday afternoons, so that many operators abandon the "piazza" and illegal traders take their place. The idea of a market on Thursday afternoons and a reduction in the opening hours of the Balôn on Saturday seemed a good solution. The said proposal has not to date been tangibly and continually applied but, on an experimental basis, a periodical weekly event called "Giradora" has been attempted, organised by the Association of Balôn Traders of Turin. The City of Turin, with decision 07733 of 7 September 1999, recognising the Balôn as a market area which has for some time been subject to urban and commercial requalification, amply documented by The Gate Project, approved the proposal of the Balôn Traders Association, allowing a public contribution for the 1999 and 2000 edition, held in the months of June and September.
6.LAYOUT OF THE MARKET AREA
The interventions of a structural type on the market area have been various in nature, from re-paving and urban fittings projects to proposals for the regulatory and logistical reorganisation of merchandise display stalls.
With regard to public space requalification interventions the reopening of the Molassi ex-canal as a pedestrian route was inaugurated in March 2001. The last section of the canal, after via Andreis, previously excluded from the works, is now the subject of the same re-paving and urban fittings project with the intention that it will become the access point for the ex-Arsenal area.
The Gate Project has, in this situation, carried out accompaniment work for the Public Administration in regard to mediation with the citizens and the resolution of conflicts and problems of a patrimonial type, information with respect to the intervention and organisation of the inauguration.
Recovering of the Molassi ex-canal
In particular The Gate Project has promoted and co-financed the installation, by those traders of via Borgo Dora whose back-shops look out on to the canal, of a structure of five dehors.
Creation of display-dehors structures on the Molassi ex-canal pedestrian
The ex-Military Arsenal in Turin has since 1 January 2000 been a building site area for the functional recovery and transformation of part of the complex to productive-artisan activities, public services and activities for persons and companies. The work, entrusted by the Council of Turin to the company s.in.at.e.c.spa should be finished by january 2003. In this case The Gate Project has offered consultation (through the methodological unit of the SOFTECH project) within the context of assigning lots to commercial activities inside the Cortile del Maglio, one of the four courtyards in the Arsenal complex, which will become a covered piazza surrounded by workshop windows. A Study Day has been organised, where all the parties and protagonists interested (commercial operators already present in the area or intending to settle into the new structure and representatives of institutions, entities and category associations) have worked for the definition of the most suitable and functional categories of activities for the overall area. The results of the meeting held at Sermig on 21 February 2001, gathered in a report which is available from the offices of The Gate, have been used in the drafting of the call for assigning the lots in the next publication.
Recovery of the Cortile del Maglio ex-Military Arsenal of Borgo Dora
In the spring of 2002 the area of Borgo Dora will also see the start of a worksite for the re-paving of via and piazza Borgo Dora, the recovery of the gardens in piazza Borgo Dora together with the reconstruction of the Principessa Clotilde Bridge. The work will last approximately one year and will be carried out in different phases for the different sectors so not to totally interrupt the Balôn market.
New paving and fittings in Via and Piazza Borgo Dora
In regard to this worksite and given the urgency of organising the movement of the Balon market operators during the different phases of the work The Gate Project has proposed a coordination unit to manage the modality of the intervention. The latter will also tackle the need for a rationalisation of the market spaces.
In particular the methodological unit of The Gate, Softech, has presented a methodological proposal which provides for discussion meetings with the protagonists included in the process, commercial operators and residents on one side and public administration managers on the other, to reach agreement on an implementation programme for the end of 2001.
At the same time, to evaluate the possibility of qualitatively stimulating and improving the commercial activities present in the area of the Balôn, through the application and improvement of the regulations in force and the targeted use of taxes, rates and tax allowances.
To achieve these results 6 actions have been identified.
1. RIQUALIFICATION OFFICE
It has been noted that there is a widespread inclination on the part of traders to undertake restoration and recovery interventions of their activities. The opening an Office serving as an information and coordination point has facilitated and continues to facilitate the access of traders in the Balôn to financial facilities in the field of building requalification.
This accompaniment role has been entrusted to Società Ascot, which has supported those involved in the compilation and gathering together of all technical-administrative documentation required and in the presentation in unitary fashion of all the applications for financing to the competent organs.
The Office is located at the headquarters of "The Gate Project" in Galleria Umberto I
2. CONSORTIUM FOR THE COMMERCIAL VALORISATION OF THE AREA
The company, Societa Ascot, was commissioned in 1998 to prepare a feasibility study for the creation of a Consortium between the commercial operators for the management of all activities concerning commercial promotion, requalification and growth in the Balôn area. From the results which emerged in the feasibility study the proposal of a consortium appears to be somewhat premature in the light of the current situation. In recent years, furthermore, there has been an attempt to work for the birth of a cohesive spirit among commercial operators, one that could create a sense of belonging to a unique and well-located commercial environment (the Borgo Dora-Balôn area). The multiple requalification possibilities in the area offered by public financing on various fronts have been an excellent and encouraging stimulus in this regard. The work of accompaniment, which has been entrusted, in regard to the fixed traders, to Società Ascot and in regard to itinerant traders, to Metodi Spa, has led to a continually growing coordination among operators which has made it possible to better exploit financing and to stimulate the rebirth of this area.
3. NATURAL COMMERCIAL CENTRE
The Balôn area has the necessary requirements such that it could request that a Natural Commercial Centre (NCC) be recognised within it along the Cottolengo, Lanino, Mameli, Borgo Dora and S.Simone roads. This recognition would offer a series of interesting opportunities for the traders and craftsmen who come together in an association for the commercial development of the Centre itself. In particular it would favour access to regulatory and economic opportunities offered to traders and craftsmen - united together in the "Balôn Consortium" - whose activities are in favour of a Natural Commercial Centre.
Since the creation of a Consortium, as emphasised above, is still premature, the decision has been take to opt for the promotion of a series of requalification interventions which could indirectly contribute to the birth of that sense of belonging to a commercial area which could constitute the basis of a future Consortium. In particular three initiatives have been followed by The Gate project: accompaniment in the opening of new activities (following the Bersani decree); the application to open an ad hoc allocation of licences by the Council (and the consequent accompaniment in the bureaucratic procedures); and coordination in the presentation of applications for financing within the context of the Urban-Borgo Dora Qualification Plan.
- Accompaniment in the opening of new activities in the district
- Derogation to the allocation of licences for public activities in the Borgo Dora area
- UQP: Urban Qualification Plan Borgo Dora
4. RENT REDUCTION FOR OCCUPYING PUBLIC LAND (COSAP)
To encourage the direct implementation of requalification or maintenance work in public spaces the regulation on COSAP allows the application of reductions in the case of carrying out work of public interest or utility whose value is determined in the convention itself. The said standard allows the managing entity to carry out interventions on the area following agreement with the Council.
The said possibility has been exploited on two occasions: In regard to the intervention area of The Gate Project, an exemption was obtained, with decision 01293 of 22 February 2000, from the COSAP for occupations with construction site equipment for the maintenance and recovery of the buildings which will open by 31 December 2001. The term has been posponed to 31 december 2002.
Following the serious damage caused by the flood, in particular the inconvenience created by the collapse of the Clotilde di Savoia Bridge, the City of Turin decided, with decision 03563 of 24 April 2001 to concede a reduction of 50% of the payment of rent for occupation of public spaces and areas and for the installation of publicity structures in favour of those commercial activities having their offices in the area defined in the decision. The reduction was conceded from 15 October 2000 until the date of reconstruction of the Bridge. Following the work on the building of the underpass for corso Regina Margherita, on the opening of the worksite for the demolition and reconstruction of clothes market III, on the opening of the worksite for the restoration and conservation with functional recovery of the buildings owned by the Ordine Mauriziano in the Santa Croce block, the City has conceded rates facilitations and reduction of the cosap (decision 04313/13 of 19 JULY 1999) in regard to commercial and artisan activities situated in areas temporarily closed to traffic and therefore liable to suffer damage due to the said works. The provision also includes the area of the Balôn with a reduction of 50% of COSAP for the itinerant trade, the dehors, the "merchandise outside the shop", with the exclusion of the owners of authorisation in compliance with articles 121 and 124 of TULPS, as well as those who display works of creativity. The reduction remained in force until 31/12/2000.
5.MODIFICATION TO THE BALÔN MARKET OPENING HOURS
During the meeting of the workshop of 1998 there emerged the proposal to modify the current opening hours of the Balôn market. The market, in fact, while constituting a strong attraction for the public, suffers from reduced numbers of visitors on Saturday afternoons, so that many operators abandon the "piazza" and illegal traders take their place. The idea of a market on Thursday afternoons and a reduction in the opening hours of the Balôn on Saturday seemed a good solution. The said proposal has not to date been tangibly and continually applied but, on an experimental basis, a periodical weekly event called "Giradora" has been attempted, organised by the Association of Balôn Traders of Turin. The City of Turin, with decision 07733 of 7 September 1999, recognising the Balôn as a market area which has for some time been subject to urban and commercial requalification, amply documented by The Gate Project, approved the proposal of the Balôn Traders Association, allowing a public contribution for the 1999 and 2000 edition, held in the months of June and September.
6.LAYOUT OF THE MARKET AREA
The interventions of a structural type on the market area have been various in nature, from re-paving and urban fittings projects to proposals for the regulatory and logistical reorganisation of merchandise display stalls.
With regard to public space requalification interventions the reopening of the Molassi ex-canal as a pedestrian route was inaugurated in March 2001. The last section of the canal, after via Andreis, previously excluded from the works, is now the subject of the same re-paving and urban fittings project with the intention that it will become the access point for the ex-Arsenal area.
The Gate Project has, in this situation, carried out accompaniment work for the Public Administration in regard to mediation with the citizens and the resolution of conflicts and problems of a patrimonial type, information with respect to the intervention and organisation of the inauguration.
Recovering of the Molassi ex-canal
In particular The Gate Project has promoted and co-financed the installation, by those traders of via Borgo Dora whose back-shops look out on to the canal, of a structure of five dehors.
Creation of display-dehors structures on the Molassi ex-canal pedestrian
The ex-Military Arsenal in Turin has since 1 January 2000 been a building site area for the functional recovery and transformation of part of the complex to productive-artisan activities, public services and activities for persons and companies. The work, entrusted by the Council of Turin to the company s.in.at.e.c.spa should be finished by january 2003. In this case The Gate Project has offered consultation (through the methodological unit of the SOFTECH project) within the context of assigning lots to commercial activities inside the Cortile del Maglio, one of the four courtyards in the Arsenal complex, which will become a covered piazza surrounded by workshop windows. A Study Day has been organised, where all the parties and protagonists interested (commercial operators already present in the area or intending to settle into the new structure and representatives of institutions, entities and category associations) have worked for the definition of the most suitable and functional categories of activities for the overall area. The results of the meeting held at Sermig on 21 February 2001, gathered in a report which is available from the offices of The Gate, have been used in the drafting of the call for assigning the lots in the next publication.
Recovery of the Cortile del Maglio ex-Military Arsenal of Borgo Dora
In the spring of 2002 the area of Borgo Dora will also see the start of a worksite for the re-paving of via and piazza Borgo Dora, the recovery of the gardens in piazza Borgo Dora together with the reconstruction of the Principessa Clotilde Bridge. The work will last approximately one year and will be carried out in different phases for the different sectors so not to totally interrupt the Balôn market.
New paving and fittings in Via and Piazza Borgo Dora
In regard to this worksite and given the urgency of organising the movement of the Balon market operators during the different phases of the work The Gate Project has proposed a coordination unit to manage the modality of the intervention. The latter will also tackle the need for a rationalisation of the market spaces.
In particular the methodological unit of The Gate, Softech, has presented a methodological proposal which provides for discussion meetings with the protagonists included in the process, commercial operators and residents on one side and public administration managers on the other, to reach agreement on an implementation programme for the end of 2001.
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