Suffers from abandoned parcels – those who don’t manage face higher taxes and penalties

Some of the warned owners, fearing higher taxes and penalties, rushed to manage their properties. But on a couple of plots, neighbors see suspicious ways to mow the lawn.

Construction in progress

In the center of Panevėžys the infrastructure is quite dense formed and as you move towards the outskirts of the city you may find more and more empty land plots, often starving in summer with tall grass and rubbish . There are no such plots on Šaltinio street. The grassy lands are a misery for the municipality for many years and an uncomfortable neighborhood for the closest residents of the Kniaudiškės neighborhood.

“I live in house 97 on Kniaudiškių street, recently cabins have been built next to us, new people are being created in them. And in front of him, two plots, which only need lightning and disaster awaits the neighborhood, ”says Liuba Rimienė from Panevėžys about the messy territory near the house.

It will probably be fifteen years old, according to the interlocutor, when two new residential buildings began to sprout up in front of Šaltinio 5C and 5B street. However, construction came to a halt and the new masonry was eventually turned into ghosts with an abandoned setting.

“We have never seen the owners of those houses. We hear rumors that they ran out of money to complete construction, that the bank took the buildings for debt. But when things stopped, another messy area appeared in the city, ”says the woman.

Suspicious of destroying the grass

According to her, the windows and doors of the uninhabited houses were covered, and it was not only the grass that began to turn green.

“In the spring, the bushes and trees grow naturally, and man is still trying to prune them,” Liuba says of the arbitrary actions on the neighboring plot.

Strangers here, he says, carry and litter. Passing through the plots, it is said that there is a stench of abandoned diapers, cans and other waste.

“I lead a puppy every day, a real tragedy for those plots. The last time we saw the grass cut was last year. And this year everything fell apart, we are sure that the owners used chemical means to destroy the grass” , comments L. Rimienė.

The woman says she saw people walking in the abandoned plots on the night of June 10. In the morning all the vegetation was already yellowish.

“We thought they then poured something and just cleaned the weed like that. Now just a hotter day and you can expect a fire. Is it possible to do that in the city? The fauna that had been there had to disappear with the poison ”, fears the indignant neighbor.

The woman who has lived on Kniaudiškių street for many years does not hide the danger of the abandoned plots, but there is nothing she can do. He claims that he has already handed over this problem to the municipality of the city of Panevėžys. By the way, next to the abandoned plots there is a disorder, according to the interlocutor, and a state land. Garbage was also seen in the spring, but after informing the Municipality, everything was resolved urgently. Now, in the words of L. Rimienė, manpower is needed there again, because it is messy again.

“I asked the residents of the new cabins if they liked that view under the windows. They are settlers, they are not yet in a hurry to complain, but soon they will also lack patience ”, the interviewee is convinced.

Other residents gathered in this part of the Kniaudiškės neighborhood did not notice the messy neighborhood. According to the interviewees interviewed, construction on abandoned land has stopped, but the empty buildings that remain are not obstructed by them.

Warn negligence

The Panevėžys City Council constantly tries to remember that the environment around the residents is also its responsibility. Specialists from the Department of Law and Public Order inspect the number of unused, abandoned and unmaintained lots in the city before July 1 of each year.

Those who do not compensate on time are given a month to repair, and failure to do so is subject to a higher property tax and even a fine of 20 to 140 euros. This year, the municipality has already included 130 parcels in the preliminary list of unused parcels of land in Panevėžys. Source Street 5C and 5B are not among them.

“According to the available data, they have unfinished construction. We will explain the situation, if necessary, we will carry out inspections, ”said Aušrys Valkūnas, deputy director of the Department of Law and Public Order of the city of Panevėžys municipality, and promised to take an interest in neighboring farms that annoy residents. However, on Šaltinio Street, the City Council noticed several plots this year, which caught the attention of inspectors due to the uncut grass, as required by the Panevėžys cleanliness and orderly rules.

“Next to the apartment building on the street Kniaudiškių 97, there are several plots on the street Šaltinio, which are included in the preliminary list of unused plots in Panevėžys. Notices were sent to its owners to get the parcel of land in order before August 1; otherwise they would be added to the list of unused parcels of land subject to a higher land tax rate. The owners of these parcels can also be subject to administrative responsibility: a warning or a fine ”, explained the deputy.

Last year, the list included six parcels on Šaltinio Street. A fine was imposed on one of its owners and the abandoned land was included in the list of unused parcels.

“In general, a large part of the owners clean the plot after receiving the notification and inform us about it. Last year, 24 new parcels were added to this list. There is no tendency to increase unused plots ”, says A. Valkūnas.

The interviewee confirmed that there is a small part of the state territory (the planned Šaltinio street) around the Šaltinio street. The complaint about the order in it has been sent to the responsible department of the Municipality and the grass will be cut in the near future.

Chemistry is not the answer

The representative of the Department of Law and Public Order assured that the municipality of Panevėžys does not use chemicals to destroy the grass. However, for residents of private homes, these methods sometimes seem like a good solution. In supermarkets you can find various herbicides for non-professional use. There are special requirements for such work.

The State Crop Service (IVA) explained to Sekundei that according to the Plant Protection Law, in separate green areas, general use (cities, towns and villages or municipalities for general use), except botanical gardens, public (scientific buildings, medical buildings, sports plant protection products, the use of plant protection products containing low-risk active substances is allowed.

When planning in this way, it is necessary to inform the public about the works. And when spraying, mark the area notifying the procedures in it.

At present, almost 200 different chemicals for weed control have been registered in Lithuania. Many of them contain glyphosate. This last substance, according to IAS specialists, is not classified as a low-risk phytosanitary product. Among them is the well-known and highly effective “Roundup”.

This spring, modifications to the Plant Protection Law were registered in the country’s Seimas, which propose to prohibit the use of glyphosate in the management of road protection lanes, power lines, railways, cities, settlements and protected areas. The amendments to the law would not apply to agriculture, as well as to the destruction of plants of invasive species for human health, when it is not possible to use other means. In autumn 2017, the European Commission decided to stop using glyphosate in the European Union from the end of next year. Lithuania also supported this decision.

Targets for reducing pesticides are set in the “European Green Course” adopted by the European Commission, in which Europeans must cut the use of chemicals in half over the next decade.