Legal issues of resort infrastructure development in the Caucasian Mineral Waters: achievements and shortcomings of federal and regional legislation

Introduction. The article examines federal and regional legislation aimed at observing public interests in creating, preserving, and developing resort infrastructure, focusing on the ecological and resort region of Caucasian Mineral Waters. 
Materials and methods. The study utilized general scientific methods such as analysis, synthesis, and statistics, alongside private legal methods including comparative legal analysis, functional legal analysis, and methods to identify legal gaps and conflicts to propose solutions.
Analysis. The article emphasizes that both federal and regional legislation lack a clear and comprehensive definition of “resort infrastructure”. Existing regulatory definitions remain extremely incomplete and require substantial revision. Flaws in federal legislation impact law enforcement nationwide, including in Caucasian Mineral Waters. The article provides examples of inadequate infrastructure attributed to state underfunding and chaotic development inconsistent with state legal resort policies. The study identifies issues in regional legislation not exclusive to the Stavropol Krai but relevant across Russia, associated with federal legislation gaps. Recommendations are made for improving federal legislation, drawing on the Law of the Republic of Crimea dated July 7, 2017, No. 409-ZRK / 2017, ‘On the specifics of creating zones with a special architectural and planning organization of the territory”. It is proposed to extend practices of this regional law to other regions of Russia, particularly the Caucasian Mineral Waters. 
Results. A differentiated approach to the concept of “resort infrastructure” is proposed, defining its functional components concerning the regime of economic activity restrictions in resorts. Several proposals are outlined for enhancing federal legislation. Several proposals have been formulated to improve federal legislation

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