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It turns out that as early as 2015, the newly retired rulers rushed to sign the Construction Permit, which blessed the development of the landfill. Only later, wanting to do what, did they diligently oppose Kaunas RATC’s plans, thus contradicting themselves, and finally, with their decisions, they seemed to open the gates of Kėdainiai wide to the trash of the entire Kaunas region.
Fought on all fronts
As soon as they learned of the plans to expand the Zabieliškis landfill, the people of Kėdainiai were shocked: the prospect of becoming a waste reception point throughout the Kaunas region fascinated no one.
Residents of Medekšiai, Zabieliškis, Liogailiškės and other surrounding villages who rebelled against plans to expand the Zabieliškis landfill submitted a resolution with categorical demands to then-mayor Saulius Grinkevičius and the district council and requested the help of then-president Dalkaitė Grybaitė , head of government.
Such human struggle has yielded positive results, and environmentalists acknowledge that an environmental impact assessment (EIA) is still required for interested entrepreneurs to develop a landfill.
Meetings with the Minister of the Environment were regular, they were also actively organized by Seimas member Darius Kaminskas, who always maintained a strict position and asked not to allow Kėdainiai to become a garbage collection point for the entire region.
However, even in the central government, decisions and opinions differed radically: on the one hand, it was recognized that there was no need to rush the development of the sanitary landfill, other forms of waste disposal were called for, and the EIA was made mandatory.
Eriko Ovcharenko / 15min nuotr./Visvaldas Matijošaitis
On the other hand, the then Minister of the Environment made it clear: everything depends not on the decisions of the Kėdainiai district, but on the decisions of Visvaldas Matijošaitis, the head of the Kaunas city municipality, and his team, who have the largest voting right in the Kaunas RAC. And the hope that the announced requirement to conduct an environmental impact assessment could become a major obstacle to the expansion of the landfill was undermined by the Minister, a procedure that has long been completed and approved.
Went to court
In an urgent meeting called, the Kėdainiai District Council decided not to approve the development of the landfill. And although this decision temporarily suspended development work, the judicial marathon began, because Kaunas RATC sued the Kėdainiai district municipality because, in its opinion, the district council, in making such a decision, exceeded its powers.
Photo from the archives of the Market Square / The district council of the previous legislature, headed by the then mayor Saulius Grinkevičius, made an illegal decision, which has now been overturned by a court, thus setting the path to the development of the Zabieliškis landfill is open.
Kaunas RATC based its complaint on the fact that the municipality had previously issued a building permit. The Environmental Protection Agency is still in 2017. adopted a conclusion according to the request submitted to the Kėdainiai District Municipality Administration regarding the amendment of the building permit.
The conclusion concludes that the development of the Zabieliškis regional landfill requires an environmental impact assessment. Kaunas RATC asked to review the adopted conclusion, but the review did not benefit them either: it was decided that an EIA was needed.
Therefore, Kaunas RATC decided that the development of the Zabieliškis landfill will continue only in accordance with the 2015 May 18 Construction permit issued by the Kėdainiai district municipality.
This is the permit issued by the then rulers, led by S. Grinkevičius. And such permission shows that the then municipal leaders knew and supported the development of the landfill.
Once he realized what he did …
As expected, the actions of the Kėdainiai District Municipality turned out to be inconsistent and difficult to justify in court; After blessing the development of the landfill, they soon realized what they had done and began to represent the residents and diligently oppose their own blessed plans.
And it might not have been understood if it weren’t for the active residents, who in April 2018 presented the texts of the petition and resolution to the rulers and the council, which were signed by 550 residents of the villages of Medėkšiai, Zabieliškis and Liogailiškės. .
One of the requirements of the resolution was to adopt a decision by the municipal council to suspend the development of the Zabieliškis landfill.
Kėdainiai District Nociūnai Community Center, Pelėdnagiai Community Center, Medėkšiai Village Association 2018. April 24 in writing no. 54 reiterated that it was categorically opposed to the development of the Zabieliškis landfill and that the communities were not informed about the development of the landfill.
As a result, in 2018. May 3 The Kėdainiai district municipal council made a decision, which turned out to be illegal.
The municipality explained to the court that Kaunas RATC had not provided them with any evidence that they had decided that the development of the Zabieliškis landfill would be carried out in accordance with 2015. May 18 Construction permit issued by the Kėdainiai district municipality.
Credentials exceeded
The Court of First Instance ruled that the decision of the city council should be annulled. The municipality appealed to the appeals court to overturn the judgment of the court of first instance.
However, the court again ruled that the district council had attempted to repeal the higher legislation with its decision, making the actions of the municipal council fundamentally illegal. Not only that, the court ruled that the council’s decision was contradictory and unreasonable.
“The data presented to the court allowed to conclude that there are no obstacles for the applicant to carry out the construction works in accordance with the construction permit issued in 2015, as in 2013. June 4 The Department of Environmental Protection of the Region of Kaunas accepted the Selection Conclusion that the environmental assessment of the development of the Zabieliškis Regional Landfill is not mandatory.
The Court also emphasized that the content of the contested decision was contradictory, essentially without reasoning, which is why it was considered incompatible with the requirements of article 8.1 of the Public Administration Law.
The explanatory memorandum establishes that the sole basis for the adoption of the Decision is the request of 550 residents for the suspension of the development of the Zabieliškis landfill. The reasons given for the decision in the explanatory memorandum are too general.
Also, in 2018. April 24 The request of the members of the K Municipaldainiai District Municipal Council to call an extraordinary meeting of the council establishes that the extraordinary meeting is necessary to form the political will that will be expressed at the shareholders meeting of the Regional Center Kaunas Waste Management Department and nothing about EIA procedures and EIA program. The municipal council has the duty to motivate its decisions to the extent required by the issue in question. It cannot be understood on the grounds of the appealed decision of the municipal council why it is not possible to reconcile interests and find compromises ”, the court concluded.
Will have to pay
In addition, the court awarded the costs of the litigation to Kaunas RATC, which is to be covered by the Kėdainiai district municipality. The expenses of the first court will be slightly more than 700 euros, and the appeal will be separated by another 500 euros.
This court ruling is not appealable, which means that the decision taken during the extraordinary meeting called urgently of the previous period of the council is annulled forever, so that Kaunas RATC no longer has obstacles to start the development works of the landfill.
The battle is lost, but the war will go on
Currently, municipal lawyers are examining the court ruling. Arūnas Kacevičius, director of the district administration, says: “I would not like to forecast a new situation. Although now that we are implementing such large projects and works, the volume of works is simply enormous, the most important issue is again the suspension of the development of the Zabieliškis landfill.
Algimantas Barzdžius / Market Square file photo / Arūnas Kacevičius: “Although the court decision is clear and unappealable, we do not intend to drop our hands. The needs of the people of our area must be listened to ”.
Although the judicial decision is clear and unappealable, we are not going to give up. The needs of the people in our area must be heard.
We will talk to the new heads of Kaunas RAC, we will present them again new arguments that should convince them that the development of the landfill in Kėdainiai is not possible, because the waste incineration plant and other factors in Kaunas change the situation due to the development of the landfill of Zabieliškis.
With new calculations, we hope to show that we can actually prevent the development of landfills through the process of waste incineration and other factors.
In any case, nobody wants that development to occur.
Now that the decision of the city council has been overturned, it will be difficult to fight Kaunas RATC if they want to expand the landfill, but as I said, we will not give up and we will do everything we can to stop the development of the landfill. “
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