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“The initial project that could be implemented, under consideration, alternatives and everything else should include not only the function of construction of engineering and parking infrastructure, but, above all, what is needed for public needs: preservation of cultural heritage , its restoration, preservation of natural values, conservation of vegetation, “said Vidmantas Bezaras, director of the Department of Cultural Heritage, at the Seimas committee meeting on Wednesday.
He said he was alarmed by the information that had come out about the parking spaces planned for 1950 and stressed that the location cannot be converted to a flat square under current law.
Offers to take over as natural heritage
Experts, municipalities, representatives of the public and members of Seimas met in the joint meeting of the Committees of Culture and Environmental Protection of Seimas to clarify the bases on which the municipality decided to take over the plot and interfered with the protected area.
The conservative president of the Environmental Protection Committee, Aistė Gedvilienė, pointed out that the municipality takes charge of one of the cases provided for by law and agreed that the list of cases in which it is possible to do so is limited, but stressed that the object can be assumed for the protection of natural and cultural heritage.
“In my personal opinion, regarding the situation in Ąžuolynas, this plot and the objects in it should be taken on that basis and not taken, without thinking about how to build something there,” said the Seimas member.
Urging the public to bring the plot to the common territory of Ąžuolynas after the takeover, the representatives of the municipality affirm that the possibilities of taking over the plot for public needs are limited, and concrete decisions will be made about what will be will do on the plot. clear only after the process.
The Seimas committees prepared a proposal for the municipality to take over the plot for public needs, but not for parking, but for the purpose of protecting natural and cultural assets, initiating an environmental impact assessment, and providing plans for alternative cars for parking.
Kaunas City Municipality Photo / Vydūno Alley Plot 4, where a parking lot is planned
The plot is part of the complex of cultural values.
According to the representatives of the municipality, Vydūno al. Land plot 4 is not included in the dežuolynas territory: it is a separate commercial plot. However, heritage conservationists emphasize that the plot nevertheless falls on the territory of Ąžuolynas as a cultural value and contains protected objects.
Vaidutė Ščiglienė, president of the State Commission for Cultural Heritage, asked the municipality to prepare impact assessments for this site, as it is close to a protected area and is included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.
“The municipality is taking a contradictory strategy: on the one hand, it supports the nomination, on the other hand, it plans the work, possibly without evaluating the impact of the solutions. While the nomination is being evaluated, it can discredit the application internationally, ”warned V.Ščiglienė.
She argued that an environmental impact assessment would help prevent these threats and proposed that the CRD declare the site as a state protected area.
“It just came to our knowledge then. Because what the municipality said, the parcel enters the value territory and there are valuable properties there,” emphasized V.Ščiglienė.
V Bezar indicated that in this plot it is necessary to preserve two objects that need to be restored: a sculpture and the remains of a greenhouse. The CRD has provided the municipality with conditions for the management of this parcel, which specify the preservation of these values and the creation of conditions for its restoration.
“According to the CRD, the site (…) is valuable both naturally and culturally, and its geographical location and historical development seem to require the restoration of the conservatory complex built in 1930, which could be adapted to society,” the department said guide.
The municipality promises to detail the decisions later
Representatives of the municipality who attended the meeting stressed that so far only the need to seize the territory has been accepted, and all concrete decisions will begin only after the start of the procedures and in the course of coordination with the citizens.
Kaunas Deputy Mayor Andrius Palionis, presenting the municipality’s plans at the meeting, emphasized that the territory never belonged to Ąžuolynas, and around 1993, the parcel was privatized, then its owners changed. The buildings on the site are currently owned by the company and the site is state-owned.
A. Palionis emphasized that the parking lots are actually installed in that territory even now, so the city relied on this fact as a basis to seize the territory. He gave as an example the site next to the Pažaislis monastery complex, which is all green and surrounded by nature.
“What is the next step after this decision of the city council, which does not decide how or how much the parking will be, but simply resisting the current situation on the site, it will have to follow a detailed plan of the site, which it takes taking into account both the cultural heritage as well as environmental requirements, as well as the procedure for coordinating with citizens, is in the stage of drawing up a detailed plan, ”emphasized the deputy mayor of Kaunas.
Then, it is planned to conduct an independent property assessment on the territory, after which the Kaunas City Council will reconsider the redemption of buildings and other solutions.
Aims to take over the parking
Last week, the Kaunas City Council approved a proposal to take over a piece of land in Ąžuolynas and install a parking lot on it.
It was decided that the plot in Vydūno al. 4 would be recognized as necessary for automobile construction and would be taken for public use. It is planned to install up to 1,950 parking spaces in the 3.3 ha area delimited by El Roble.
According to the Kaunas public figures who initiated the petition for the preservation of the integrity of Ąžuolynas, the Ąžuolynas park with its surrounding environment is a unique area, so the planned large parking lot will have a negative impact on both the valuable cultural values and natural and health. surrounding residents and visitors.
Approximately 770 oak trees grow in the Ąžuolynas park, and the most unique value of this park is the 100- to 300-year-old oak trees with a trunk diameter of 100 to 160 centimeters.
This park is home to one of the rarest beetles in Lithuania and Europe, the dark colored beetle, and is also protected as a Natura 2000 site of the European ecological network.
The grove is estimated to be several thousand years old. In 2005, 59 bird species were recorded on the park territory during the natural diversity research, 29 bird species were included in the lists of endangered species in Europe.
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