What it is
When a city changes a building plan, residents can challenge the draft in writing before it becomes binding. In Serbian procedure these objections are called primedbe, and the public review of the draft is javni uvid. For a neighborhood, this is the moment when people can still argue over building heights, density, streets, parking, and pressure on infrastructure. After expert control, a draft is usually displayed for 30 days; if only part of the draft is shown again, the period cannot be shorter than 15 days.
Why the commission meeting matters
For city plans, objections pass through the Planning Commission. It decides which objections to accept, which to reject, and what should change in the draft. That made the June 30 dispute more than a formality: when residents seek recusal of the commission or its president, they are challenging trust in the body that decides what happens to their objections.
What objections can change
An objection does not stop a plan automatically, but it can change the draft before adoption. If the commission accepts part of the objections, the plan drafter must act on the report's decisions; if the changes are substantial, a new draft and new expert control may be needed. For the neighborhood, that can mean changes to building heights, density, streets, parking, public spaces, and infrastructure pressure.
What is happening in Novi Sad
The dispute concerns a large plan along Bulevar despota Stefana. Earlier 021 reports said the former "Neimar" site is planned for housing, business premises, and public areas, with investment valued at 150 million euros and planners expecting more than 7,500 residents. After several thousand objections, the commission meeting was moved from June 18 to June 30, 2026. On that day, citizens' assemblies sought recusal of the whole commission, especially president Radoje Dabetic: lawyer Srdjan Kovacevic claimed Dabetic had earlier worked for legal entities connected with financing the plan, including Neimar and Aleksandar gradnja. The commission replied that the request was legitimate but that the City Assembly must decide on it; according to 021, by the end all residents left the hall.
What the city now decides
After June 30, the city has to answer two layers of the dispute. The first is trust in the commission: whether the recusal request will be considered and who will decide it. The second is the plan itself: which residents' objections enter the report, whether they change heights, density, streets, parking, and public spaces, and whether a new version of the draft will be needed.
Why it matters
For residents of Liman and nearby neighborhoods, the objection procedure is one of the few formal ways to influence building heights, density, public spaces, traffic, parking, and infrastructure pressure before a plan is adopted. For the city, it is also a transparency test: a contested project cannot be judged only through political statements until the commission shows what was rejected, what was accepted, and why.
What will decide the dispute next
The next phase depends on two things: whether there is an official response to the recusal request and what enters the Planning Commission report on the objections. That is where it will become clear which residents' objections were accepted, which were rejected, and whether the draft along Bulevar despota Stefana changes.