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Like he said, he did. The Kaunas rulers decided to take over a commercial plot of more than 3 hectares in Ąžuolynas for the needs of the society. He intends to install a huge parking lot, up to 2,000 thousand places. They are also necessary when you think about the thousands of spectators who will gather for events at the Darius and Girėnas stadiums and at the Sports Center. There are more plans.
“That parking lot could serve not only the Darius and Girėnas stadiums, but also the visitors to the park and the zoo. Maybe it could.”park and drive“A style parking lot where people coming from the suburbs can avoid having to park a car downtown, get out and get to the city center by public transport,” says Martynas Matusevičius, Head of the Department of Transportation.
PHOTO GALLERY. Oak damage warnings to Kaunas authorities: planning to install parking lot
Upon learning of the government’s ambitions, residents are outraged that vegetation will be destroyed and hectares of asphalt will create a unique space.
“Hopefully if the plot was taken for the needs of society, so that it was connected to the territory of the oak grove and the integral green space of the park would be restored, and it would not be flooded with concrete”, says Laura Ramanauskaitė -Stašiauskienė, director of the association Žaliasis Ąžuolynas.
And the government is defending itself, saying it will not cut down any valuable vegetation and that the pavement will be environmentally friendly.
“There will be no asphalt, hard pavement, maybe it will be done in stages, but the urban planners will say that there will be a green parking lot”, says the mayor of Kaunas, Visvaldas Matijošaitis.
And here M. Matusevičius says that the environment of Ąžuolynas will be protected.
“All the trees will be preserved, the area will not only be suitable for cars, maybe it could be playgrounds for children, maybe some places with small infrastructure where you can rent a bike,” he explains.
Kaunas residents who walk through the oak grove do not want the site, it is supposed to pollute clean air with exhaust gases. People suspect that unwanted buildings may also arise, and the government denies such suspicions:
“We will return to the council with suggestions and ask questions, and then the work will continue. And the huts will never be able to appear. Only one integrated site can appear,” M. Matusevičius reassures residents.
Professional arborists, arborists, don’t like the idea either: the vibration of thousands of machines, pollution, and stimulated massive flows of people will damage the century-old oak trees, the trees will disappear, and the birds and beetles that live in them.
“Looking at trends in how the city will develop, it is likely to be 50 percent in 50 years. We will lose the charm of the oak grove, it will decay, create and begin to disappear,” explains arborist Algis Davenis.
The architect Eglė Januškienė even prepared a petition, more than 2,000 people signed it during the day. The government is expected to understand and not install the site.
“I think this is a completely wrong solution, damaging the nature and health of the surrounding population,” he says.
The authorities’ intentions also shocked the representatives of the canine training school, which has operated in the area for several decades.
“This is news, I don’t know what we will do, I find it hard to believe that there might be a parking lot, maybe an area used for some other purpose,” says Erna Valčiukienė, founder of the dog training school. Nasrai.
Council opposition tried to oppose such ambitions, but they remained unheard of.
“This is a unique oak grove, which we are almost the only one in Europe, so it should be preserved and used for recreational purposes, not for parking in the city center,” says opposition spokeswoman Edita Gudišauskienė.
The thousand-year-old oak is a site of the Natura 2000 ecological network, home to one of the rarest protected beetles in Lithuania and Europe, the shadowy golden beetle, and is home to some thirty species of birds in danger of extinction. It is estimated that more than 800 oaks grow here.
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