Světlá nad Sázavou at odds over 33-meter glassworks warehouse near the chateau

A dispute has flared up in the Vysočina town of Světlá nad Sázavou over plans to build a massive automated warehouse for the Crystal Bohemia glassworks right next to the park by the local chateau. The building, up to 33 meters tall, roughly 210 meters long and up to 170 meters wide at its widest point, could hold as many as 100,000 pallet spaces. City councillors have already approved the zoning change needed for construction, though the factory has not yet obtained an actual building permit.

Some residents fear the enormous structure will irreversibly ruin the view of the historic park. "They'll completely devalue this park. It's beautiful, and now they're going to put up a huge building right next to it," says one local woman who has lived in the town for 39 years. Others support the project as a source of jobs for the glassworks, one of the town's largest employers.

Why the factory needs such a warehouse

According to Crystal Bohemia, the Světlá plant can produce up to 200,000 glass items a day, which translates to at least 450 pallets. The current warehouses hold only about 45,000 pallet spaces, forcing the company to ship finished goods to rented logistics warehouses scattered across Vysočina. "This adds extra costs for transport and handling and complicates the whole logistics process," said Kateřina Miksovská, a spokesperson for Louda Holding, which owns Crystal Bohemia. The company says it's precisely the automated storage system that requires such a tall building — a lower structure with the same capacity would need a significantly larger footprint.

The plant currently employs around 500 people. Estimates of new jobs vary: the company itself speaks of roughly a hundred new positions, while factory owner Pavel Louda mentioned a figure of up to 300 jobs at the city council meeting on June 24 — though, according to the town hall, that estimate was tied to a doubling of production and remains hypothetical.

Opponents push for a referendum

The city council approved the zoning change on June 24, with 14 of 21 councillors voting in favor. ODS councillor Martina Šlosrová, also a mayoral candidate for the "Srdcem za Světlou" coalition, proposed putting the decision to a local referendum but failed to win support. An initiative group then began collecting signatures directly from residents.

By Šlosrová's calculations, a referendum requires backing from 20% of voters — about 1,080 signatures — and the group set a target of 1,200 to be safe. So far, she estimates, only 120–150 signatures have been gathered, mostly through social media; door-to-door canvassing at public events is only in the planning stage and is expected to take another one to two months.

Critics worry that if production is scaled back or the factory runs into trouble, the warehouse could sit unused, permanently disfiguring the town's appearance. As an alternative, they propose locating the facility in a long-abandoned industrial zone next to the existing production site — a plot that has stood unused for more than 16 years. Matyáš Šimoník, a supporter of the project and a council candidate for the ruling Pro Světelsko coalition, admits that such a location would be more practical, but the land in question belongs neither to the city nor to Crystal Bohemia, and acquiring it could take years.

What experts and heritage officials say

A landscape impact assessment prepared by the B&M studio from Žďár acknowledges that the new building will be partly visible from higher ground, although existing greenery will largely hide it from the park and the train station. Experts described the landscape impact as "moderate and acceptable," provided the upper part of the building is recessed, the façade is broken up, and protective greenery is planted — though opponents argue these measures won't change the structure's sheer size or its close proximity to the park.

In July 2024, the National Heritage Institute recommended that the plot next to the park be deemed unsuitable for development, citing the need to preserve the area's architectural and urban-planning value. The town hall claims it addressed these concerns in a revised version of the project, but the institute says it never received the updated documentation for review, so the absence of new objections cannot be taken as approval of the final version. The chateau complex holds cultural heritage status, but its surroundings fall outside the protected zone, meaning the institute is not a body whose binding approval the investor is required to obtain.

Read also: Prague Castle from the inside: 9 places within the fortress you shouldn't miss

Source: seznamzpravy.cz