Affordable housing for locals, transport, investment in infrastructure and more support for tourism in the summer months. These are some of the main goals of the management of Pec pod Sněžkou, which took the helm of this Krkonoše resort a year ago. Mayor Ilona Karlíková (SNK Velká Úpa – Pec) commented that in addition to the development of tourism, she also considers it a priority that the people who work there do not leave the town.
“It is important not only to support local entrepreneurs, but also people who work in services in Pec and want to live here. They need to have such conditions that they have a reason to stay. That’s why, for example, we are planning new municipal apartments, investments in infrastructure. For 20 years, it has been mainly apartments and commercial projects. We want to change that,” said Karlíková.
After the last municipal elections, Pec changed its leadership. The long-time former mayor, Alan Tomášek (SNK Sněžka), left office after 20 years.
The new town hall is still counting on the construction of apartment houses, but wants to regulate this activity more. “We will try to collect accommodation fees better and we will make sure that apartment houses are not built on hills, where traffic is then a burden,” Karlíková said. The zoning plan envisions development mainly along backbone roads in the valleys.
For example, next year, the mayor said, construction of the Svatá Barbora apartment complex should begin in the centre of Pec pod přehradu and above the Pecr Deep Hotel. This project was approved by the city government in the last legislature, she recalled. The investor is entrepreneur Martin Kubík, who opened a similar apartment complex, Svatý Vavřinec, nearby in 2018. The Svatá Barbora complex would have nearly 80 apartments, an underground garage, a restaurant, a swimming pool and a wellness centre.
The construction of apartments is also expanding from the centre of the resort to the Velká Úpa district. In spring, the apartment house Úpa Resort, which will have 27 apartments and will be ready in December 2025, should start to grow in Velká Úpa. It will be built between the road and the river Úpa next to the Pension Cortina.
Another private investor is preparing the construction of six interconnected apartment houses with underground parking and services, shops or a café on the ground floor along the road opposite Pension Relax in Velká Úpa. Several houses to the right of the road in the direction of Pec are therefore awaiting demolition. Hotel Hela and other buildings, including the Úpa pub, are to go down. “We welcome the new construction in this area, it will create a complete development including services. We expect that demolition work could start next year,” said Karlíková.
In recent years there has been a growing interest in Pec for the summer season, she said. It is a challenge for the traditional winter resort. The town hall wants to support projects that will complement the resort’s offer for summer recreation. Such a project could be the forthcoming congress and cultural centre on the site of the socialist-era building known as Klondike next to the Svatý Vavřinec complex. The investor should be Martin Kubík. “It could bring new clientele with different interests to the city,” the mayor said. She stressed that the winter season remains crucial for the resort. “The cooperation with the biggest employer in the town, Mega Plus, which is the operator of the ski resort, remains crucial for us,” she said.
She identified the traffic situation in the city centre as one of the main challenges. “That is why we are preparing a traffic study that will include an overall transport concept. Yes, the opening of the parking house three years ago helped, but it is not enough. For example, we are dealing with issues such as where we will let motorists go everywhere, how we will set up parking and public transport,” Karlíková said. The parking house project in Velká Úpa has been put on hold, and the town hall is reassessing it to make it cheaper than the CZK 300 million it is expected to cost.
The mayor said one of the conditions for calming traffic in the resort is the establishment of city-subsidised public transport to offer motorists an alternative. In the summer, the town hall launched a pilot project for free bus transport for visitors. The bus ran between Velká Úpa and Pecí with a stop at the parking house.
As far as investments in infrastructure are concerned, the mayor mentioned the repair of one of the backbone roads in the centre of the resort in the section from the bridge over the Zelený potok to the Javor ski slope. The repair should cost more than ten million crowns and the builders should be able to finish it next year. It will also include repairs to pavements and the winter ski path.
The town hall is also preparing the construction of a sewage treatment plant for the whole resort in Velká Úpa, this project is in the study phase. At present, the sewage treatment plant is in the centre of Pec above the Velká Úpa district, which is unsustainable, according to the mayor.
Source: Pec pod Sněžkou and CTK
