ACQUI TERME. A basketball court and other sports spaces are on the way in via Cassarogna, in Acqui Terme, thanks to the agreement approved by the City Council in one of the last sessions of this mandate.
The Emilia Market company will be able to build a new medium-sized sales structure dedicated to DIY next to the Gulliver supermarket, which has already been operating for years, and in exchange will sell a portion of the market parking lot to the Municipality.
In the space he will build at his own expense, among other things, a basketball court for the Acquesi. «The intervention – explained in the city council the city planning councilor Giacomo Sasso – will be carried out before the release of accessibility to the new shop. Among other things, there will be new trees and benches, new lighting and the basketball court together with an area dedicated to skateboarding. The facility will be regulated: it will in fact be fenced and closed in the evening, like a public facility ».
Sasso defined the operation as «important from an urban planning point of view, it will contribute to redevelop a large area and as it will benefit the young people of the city who want to practice sports and other outdoor activities».
The Pd opposition, however, has raised doubts about the operation, defined as «delicate because it envisages a new commercial structure, albeit medium-sized, in the city. In 2019 – explained the group leader, Carlo De Lorenzi – we had voted against the establishment of the supermarket, to which today the new similar space is added. The opposition to that modification of the regulatory plan was motivated by the consequences for the city trade and furthermore, subsequently – continued De Lorenzi – against that building permit an appeal was filed with the TAR by the company Orione ». According to the councilors of the Democratic Party, “the agreement is positive because it allows for other sports spaces in the city but there is a risk that this step will also be challenged”.
Councilor Sasso replied «the goodness of the operation. At the time, an amendment envisaged by the regional trade legislation had been incorporated into the land use plan. Now it would be difficult to reject such a proposal, which is positive for the city, which moreover brings jobs at a time of great difficulty. As for the appeal to the TAR, at the moment nothing more has been heard ».
De Lorenzi, however, retorted that “new jobs will undoubtedly arrive but they will be lost in small businesses”. The resolution relating to the agreement between the Municipality and Emilia Market was approved with eleven votes in favor, the majority with the center-right (“A valid and important agreement”, stated the former mayor Enrico Bertero), and two votes against from the Pd.