Permit description
The City of Turku primarily directs the building in rural areas with exceptional planning permits and placement decisions for planning need areas. Depending on the project, the City might require both decisions.
You need an exceptional planning permit, for instance, when:
- you want to build a building by the sea shore or near a body of water
- you want to build more than one building on a site in a rural area
- the building site in the rural area is less than 1,000 square metres
How to
- Apply for an exceptional planning permit or a placement decision for a planning need area in the City's e-service.
You can ask for more information about the exceptional planning permit or the placement decision for a planning need area from the Urban Environment's environmental lawyers or the Urban Environment's customer service.
The phone service of the environmental lawyers' is open Mon–Fri at 9–11
Background information
In certain situations, applying for a building permit may require an exceptional planning permit before the building permit can be granted. In some cases, a measure may require an exceptional planning permit even if it does not require a building permit.
Within a municipally designated planning need area, construction may require that the conditions for placement within the area be assessed in connection with the processing of the building permit. At the applicant’s request, the conditions for placement within a planning need area may be decided through a separate placement decision.
If the applicant wishes to apply for a separate placement decision within a planning need area, the decision is valid for the period specified in the decision, but at a maximum of two years. The building permit must be applied for within this period.
If a developer intends to deviate from a local detailed plan or from provisions, regulations, prohibitions or other restrictions concerning construction or other measures laid down in the Land Use Act or the Building Act, or issued pursuant to them, such as the municipal building ordinance, an exceptional planning permit is required before a building permit can be granted. The municipality may grant an exceptional planning permit subject to certain conditions.
An exceptional planning permit always requires special grounds. The deviation must not cause harm to planning and must not hinder the achievement of objectives related to nature conservation or the protection of the built environment.
A granted exceptional planning permit must be exercised within two years from the date on which the decision becomes legally binding. The municipality may impose conditions on the permit.
Application appendices
Application for an exceptional planning permit:
- Account of the applicant’s right to possess the building site or other grounds for applying for the permit.
- Site plan indicating access to the building site, a preliminary account of wastewater treatment, and existing, demolished and planned buildings or construction measures on the site.
- Statements from neighbouring property owners. Neighbours may also be consulted by the authority (fee charged in accordance with the tariff).
- The applicant must present in the application the specific land-use-related grounds on which the exceptional planning permit is sought.
- Additional reports may be required on a case-by-case basis.
Application for a placement decision in a planning need area:
- Account of the applicant’s right to possess the building site.
- Power of attorney from the property owner if the applicant is not the owner.
- Site plan indicating access to the building site, a preliminary account of wastewater treatment, and existing, demolished and planned buildings or construction measures on the site.
- Information on the building’s volume and façade, its placement on the building site, arrangements for access, and in areas where municipal infrastructure exists or is planned, information on the intended connection point.
- Statements from neighbouring property owners. Neighbours may also be consulted by the authority (fee charged in accordance with the tariff).
What does the service cost?
See the prices in the Building Supervision's fee table. If an exceptional planning permit has been required for the placement decision for a planning need area, the City only invoices 50% of the fee.
If you are applying for a permit with a paper form, an additional fee of 200€ will be added for the converting of the documents to an electronic format.