Final decisions on 700,000 illegal buildings in August • Forest Maps & Residential Densities

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The Ministry of Environment is going to give a short grace period for areas in East and West Attica, the Cyclades, Thessaloniki, Drama, Kozani, Magnesia, and Karditsa, where the deadline for submitting objections to the posted forest maps is August 30.

At the same time, within the month, the Ministry of Environment and Energy will have decided on the “hot potato” of residential densification that it inherited from the previous leadership. Secondly, the acquisition of deforested land, which was ruled unconstitutional by the Council of State, will come under scrutiny.

However, owners are also facing obstacles, as they are confronted with a lack of coordination between Forestry Departments and Committees regarding obvious errors, with the absolute chaos concerning the Objections Examination Committees again, which are moving at a very slow pace, resulting in the freezing of property transfers and sales for at least the next four years.

On the air

As explained in Eleftheros Typos by agronomist, surveyor, and engineer Grammatis Baklatsis, thousands of landowners are in limbo because objections to forest maps submitted two years ago have not been reviewed by the relevant committees. “According to the law, once all objections have been examined, the forest map of the area will be ratified and, based on this, we will know definitively which areas are forest and which are private land.” It is estimated that the first Objections Committees will complete their work in another two years, given the pace at which they are working. Subsequently, all decisions must be entered on the map by the competent Forestry Directorate. “Therefore, for 4-5 years, transfers of real estate that are in dispute with the State will be suspended,” concludes Ms. Baklatsi.

Forest encroachment

According to sources, final decisions on the issue of residential densification, which is essentially illegal forest construction, are expected to be made within the month. This is yet another “time bomb” that the Ministry of Environment and Energy is called upon to defuse, as there are decisions by the Council of State that have ruled it unconstitutional. At the same time, the government has laid its cards on the table regarding the crackdown on illegal construction, with a notable example being the revelation by the Deputy Minister of the Environment, Dimitris Oikonomou, in “E.T.,” who said that there will be no new law on illegal buildings. Thus, the ministry is examining ways to avoid conflict with forestry legislation, but also to avoid opening a “loophole” for potential trespassers.

According to the same sources, priority will be given to municipalities that have not submitted settlement boundaries and have left their owners in limbo, since they have not submitted any objections to the posted forest maps. At this stage, all scenarios are open. In other words, it remains to be seen whether a new law will replace the existing situation or whether new maps will be posted for the areas that were excluded and the relevant ministerial decisions will be issued in parallel.

It should be noted that former ministers of the Environment and Energy, George Stathakis and Socrates Famellos, submitted a bill on residential density just before the elections, in an attempt to comply with the Council of State’s decision. It should be recalled that residential density was defined as a group of 50 buildings on an area of up to 25 acres, 100 buildings on 100 acres, and 200 buildings on 400 acres.

Blockade

The Plenary Session ruled that the Tsironis law, i.e. residential densification, is unconstitutional. The previous leadership of the Ministry of the Environment had temporarily exempted residential densification from the posting of forest maps (a total of buildings within forests estimated at around 700,000) from the posting of forest maps and had indicated almost all of them (except for 24 local authorities) to be included in the posting at a later date. In the meantime, the Ministry of Environment and Energy prepared and presented the new law on illegal forest buildings, which provided, among other things, for the preservation of buildings for up to 25 years. However, with the decision of the Council of State putting a stop to trespassers – stating that illegal builders should not be rewarded – the ministry was left in limbo.

Specifically, the bill that was submitted but did not proceed provided for the preservation of unauthorized buildings constructed within forests, and specifically within residential areas, for 25 years instead of up to 40 years as stipulated in the previous regulation. At the same time, the Ministry of Environment and Energy emphasized that it was in full accordance with the decision of the Council of State, which ruled that the previous provisions were unconstitutional and that the forest maps would therefore also be posted in the green areas where they had been excluded. Citizens who missed the deadline for submitting objections due to the exemption from the municipalities would have time to do so, while bulldozers would demolish buildings constructed in Natura areas, forests, coastal areas, national parks, etc.

The WWF and GEOTEE appealed to the Council of State, requesting that the ministerial decision in question be overturned as unconstitutional and illegal.

Deforested areas

With regard to the decision to purchase deforested forest areas, the Fifth Section of the Council of State ruled that the provisions of 2014 and 2017, which allowed for the purchase of land for a fee, were unconstitutional ruling that they violated Articles 24 and 117 of the Constitution as well as the constitutional principles of equality and the rule of law. The Ministry of the Environment, with successive extensions, the last one expiring on August 8, 2020, had legislated to allow farmers to purchase land that appears on the forest map as forest land and was cleared for agricultural use before June 11, 1975.

Among other things, the memorandum stated that in November 2018, 32,373 requests had been submitted for the purchase of land cleared before 1975 (9,400 requests in the Decentralized Region of Peloponnese-Western Greece-Ionian Islands for 80,000 stremmas of land). In addition, there were 31,066 more requests for the purchase of the right to maintain illegal use (9,896 requests in the Decentralized Region of Thessaly-Central Greece, 19,420 in the Decentralized Administration of Macedonia-Thrace).

It should be noted that in 2017, the Panhellenic Union of Public Servant Foresters (PEDDY) and the Greek Geotechnical Chamber (GEOTEE) appealed to the Council of State.

Chaos

At the same time, there is confusion regarding the process of examining obvious errors. In fact, the affected landowners are threatening to take legal action, as they received a positive response from the Forestry Department and their cases were then sent to the relevant Appeals Committees for validation, but without being summoned, their request was rejected and the opinion of the Directorate was not accepted. . In simpler terms, they received two conflicting official documents from the state, one of which was accepted and the other rejected.
The areas where… the posting process is running until the end of the month

The following areas are in the process of being posted until 30/8/2019:

  • Eastern Attica (1. Municipalities of Marousi, Nea Ionia, Kaisariani, Zografou, Vyronas, as well as the municipal units: a) Melissia Municipality of Penteli, b) Filothei Municipality of Filothei-Psychiko, c) Pikermi & Rafina Municipality of Rafina – Pikermi, d) N. Makri Municipality of Marathon, 2. Municipality of Halandri and the municipal units: a) Glyka Nera & Paiania of the Municipality of Paiania, b) Spata of the Municipality of Spata-Artemida, c) Cholargos of the Municipality of Papagos-Cholargos, Regional Unit of Eastern Attica), pre-Kroopia local authority.
  • Western Attica (Pre-Kapodistrian Local Authority: Megara, Western Attica)
  • Cyclades (former local authorities of Ano Meras on the island of Mykonos, Adamas on the island of Milos, Anafi, the island of Anafi, Ano Meras, Folegandros, the island of Folegandros, Sikinos, Oia, Imerovigli, Vourvoulos, Thira, Karterados, Messaria, Vothonas, Exo Gonia, Thira, and Thirasia, Thirasia, Cyclades).
  • Thessaloniki: Municipal districts of Ampelokipoi and Menemeni of the Municipality of Ampelokipoi Menemeni, municipal district of Ionia (Diavata-Nea Magnisia) of the Municipality of Delta, municipal districts of Thessaloniki and Triandria of the Municipality of Thessaloniki, municipal districts of Eleftherio-Kordelio and Evosmos of the Municipality of Kordelio-Evosmos, municipal districts of Agios Pavlos, Neapolis, Pefka, Sykea of the Municipality of Neapolis-Sykea, municipal units of Eukarpia, Polichni, Stavroupolis of the Municipality of Pavlos Melas, the municipal units of Panorama and Pylaia of the Municipality of Pylaia-Chortiatis, and the municipal unit of Oreokastro of the Municipality of Oreokastro.
  • Drama: (Local and Municipal Communities of the Regional Unit of Drama, excluding the pre-Kapodistrian Local Authorities of Drama, Kefalari, Kalabakio, Kalamon, Agios Athanasios, and Megalos Alexandros).
  • Kozani (pre-Kapodistrian local authority of Kozani, Municipality of Kozani, Regional Unit of Kozani).
  • Magnesia: Pre-Kapodistrian local authorities of Volos, Nea Anchialos, Alonnisos, and Skiathos.
  • Karditsa: The entire Regional Unit.