Kalkan Turkish Local News was one of only 5 members of the public, who attended the July Board meeting.

It was a fairly brief affair, and not for the first time, the post-agenda discussions proved to be quite interesting.

In this report we bring you the highlights.

The Mayor was not in Kalkan, so the meeting was chaired by Deputy Mayor, Hasan Erkek.

Planning matters
The first two items on the agenda related to planning matters.

Item one referred to a small piece of land in Kömürlük.  In short, a land owner has provided a piece of land to the Belediye, required for the new service road.  In exchange, he has been given some land on the other side of his own plot. 

This was green land, so the Belediye could only allow this by reallocating another piece of land close by, as green land, so that the overall area of green land is not reduced.

Item two related to a stretch of land along Kalamar Road.  Apparently, over a period of time, a number of contiguous plots of privately owned land, along Kalamar Road, had been allowed to 'extend' slightly, into areas of Belediye green land. 

To compensate for this loss of a number of small bits of land, a nearby piece of land was redesignated as green land, so that the overall area of green land in that location remained the same.

Apparently, someone had complained to the Governor of Kaş and also the regional planning authorities about this 'swapping' of green land.  The Belediye has taken legal advice, and it has been confirmed that these pragmatic adjustments are quite normal, providing the municipality can justify its actions.  This Board meeting voted to confirm the validity of the changes made.

Bus stops (duraklar) and illuminated advertising
Item three was about proposals to bring up to 15 bus stops to Kalkan.  A company has approached the Belediye with an offer to install these bus stops, for free.  In exchange, the company gets the right to sell illuminated advertising space on all the bus stops, for a period of 7 years. 

At the end of this period, the bus stops are the property of the Belediye, and the company's right to sell advertising space stops.

A local businessman in the public seats, spoke at length, and with passion about how these bus stops are not right for Kalkan.  He seemed to be objecting in particular to the illuminated signs that would be on the sides of the bus stops, rather than the bus shelters themselves.

He pointed at that drip, drip effect of an ever increasing number of signs, and illuminations creeping on to the streets of Kalkan.  One individual sign on its own may be insignificant, but one by one, their cumulative effect was bad.  He said that if action was not taken to stop this proliferation, the town would begin to look like Marmaris or other similar places.

There was an exchange of views between the Board members and members of the audience.  To be honest, we did not follow the ins and outs of each exchange, but the Belediye position appears to be that it is difficult stop change. 

There are quite strict rules governing signage in the old town centre, however on the outskirts of town, and along main roads the Belediye appears to have few powers.

We believe that these bus shelters will be introduced shortly.

Fresh water supply
The fourth item on the agenda was water.  Given recent events it was inevitable that this subject would be raised.

Rather than dwell on what went wrong, it was good to see the Board talking about what they intended to do in future.  They have asked companies to tender for a project to look into the feasibility of using alternative sources, to provide clean water to Kalkan. 

Kalkan water currently flows from Saklıkent, which is around 30km away.  The project will look at sources closer to home.  For example, nearby Sarıbelen; or the fresh water that flows into the sea close to Palm Beach Club.  (There is a small source of fresh water behind Kalkan town beach, however the volume of water is quite small).

The project will come up with recommendations, which will have to be costed and funded.  No doubt we will be reporting further on this once the project is underway.

Plans for the future
That was all from the formal agenda.  Those present continued to discuss Kalkan's future as a tourist destination.  The local businessman who raised the point about increasing street advertising, wanted to know what the Belediye's vision was for the future of Kalkan as a tourist destination.

As I understood the exchanges, the Belediye said that the commercial sector, (hotels, restaurants etc), are responsible for developing their own propositions to attract visitors. 

The Belediye's primary role is to support the tourism industry, by working to deliver municipal services - water, (clearly a sensitive issue, but something that the Belediye would argue they have 'inherited' and taken action on), rubbish collection, street cleaning, mosquito spraying, fire brigade, etc). 

The point was raised about how Kalkan positions and promotes itself as a tourist destination, and once again reference was made to other Turkish tourist towns, and the fact that Kalkan should aim to offer something better; something different.

From these exchanges, it was agreed that a meeting should be convened, where representatives from Kalkan's business community would meet with the Belediye, to develop a vision and a plan for the future.

Where is the local dolmuş (minibus) service?
Please read our previous article on this subject for background information.

KTLN raised the question of the local minibus service - or the lack of it.  The service, taking people to and from town, failed to return at the start of the 2011 season. 

We said that already we were in July, and asked how long it would be before the service would be brought back.  We pointed out that this is not a 'foreigners' issue - we know of local Turkish people who also want to have such a service.

The Board promised that something will happen soon.  We were told that a meeting is to take place between operators and the Belediye to agree routes, timetables and fares.  It appears that more areas of Kalkan are to be included - i.e. more routes. 

It is a message we have heard before, and once again, we shall follow this up to see what happens.

The next Board meeting will be on the first Tuesday of September.

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