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Heavy budget cuts hit the municipality of Oslo, but the park is under construction opposite Sognsvann. – Completely silly.
During winter and spring, major changes take place in Sognsvann, one of the most used outdoor areas in the country and one of the busiest entrances to Nordmarka.
In the municipality’s project, which has been called “Green Access”, the parking closest to the water will be replaced by a green area. The paved area will be replaced by a hiking trail surrounded by 100 trees and 375 shrubs, which will form an entrance to the forest.
There will be furniture and gravel paths, and parts of the area will have “tactile tiles” as a base on the path into the woods.
NEW ENTRANCE: Here, at the entrance to the Sognsvann forest area, the municipality of Oslo will now plant several hundred shrubs and trees.
Photo: Morten Solli
– Safer entrance door to the field
The background to the large-scale change is that the road from the metro to the hiking area has been perceived as dangerous for traffic. This is behind a decision by the Oslo City Council to “ensure a safer and greener access and gateway to Marka,” says Lan Marie Berg (ODM), city councilor for Environment and Transport.
– Now families with children, kindergartens, school classrooms, youth and other active users of the area by Sognsvann do not have to worry about backed cars and a crowded parking lot, when they reach the field in a simple and environmentally friendly way with the subway, says the councilor.
Also read: You must secure parking – more than a thousand parking spaces have been removed: – I get completely tired
– Completely silly
But not everyone is equally excited about the plan, it turned out that Nettavisen spoke to a dozen hikers in Sognsvann on Monday afternoon.
– It is completely in vain and I am very skeptical. I can’t understand why they should make a park when this beautiful hiking area is inside. It is completely empty. I also doubt that there are so many parking spaces. Families with children with strollers, skis, and sleds drive here, and it quickly turns into chaos on nice days, says Tom Hagen of Rosenhoff.
Most Nettavisen who spoke about Green Access were mildly skeptical. Improving the poor terrain around the water would have been a lot better to spend money, he thought, while a couple of older friends thought the park idea was great.
Erik Solhjell describes the plans for green access as pointless waste.
– This is sheer stupidity.
A park in front of the forest that makes little sense:
– It’s silly. You have the shed right in front here where you can walk mile after mile. It’s bullshit and completely dumb.
See the full video of the interview with Erik Solhjell above.
It should cost seven million
According to Berg, the project will cost 6.2 million crowns. However, the order document that Nettavisen has had access to shows an expected cost framework of NOK 7 million. In reality, the new green area in front of the forest should have been completed in 2019. But construction has been delayed and the plant is now expected to be completed in 2021.
– Time is not the most important objective in this project, says in the request of the Urban Environment Agency.
After many adjustments along the way, it wasn’t until April 2020 that it was finally decided to complete the project, according to a steering group document that has been given access to Nettavisen.
Cuts in lifeguards and snow removal
In the 2021 budget for the city of Oslo, big cuts have been made to the Urban Environment Agency, which is also due to cut man-years. Several cuts have been proposed to meet the adjustment requirement of a total of NOK 26 million, the agency’s budget impact assessment shows.
Among the proposed cuts is the removal of snow, which according to the assessment can “have an impact on accessibility and traffic safety if there is a snowy winter.” The agency also warns of cuts to garbage collection in parks. Within the road and park areas, cuts of NOK 10 and 5 million are estimated.
But there are still 10 million crowns to go, and then the Urban Environment Agency proposes, among other things, to drop the fireworks on New Year’s Eve (in Rådhusplassen) and the lifeguard service on the beaches of Huk, Sørenga and Hvervenbukta in 2021. The latter after the municipality has just spent 30 million crowns to upgrade the bathroom facilities in Huk with, among other things, changing rooms for lifeguards.
The budget cut also forces the reduction of jobs, it is clear from the impact assessment of the Urban Environment Agency.
IT IS NICE: When Nettavisen pulled over on a normal October afternoon, there was total traffic and parking chaos in the area that will make up all future parking, but the city is promising fines and improvements.
Photo: Morten Solli
– it is not a park
The online newspaper has asked Councilor Berg why building a park at the entrance of a forest is the right priority, when the municipality in the 2021 budget must make such budget cuts.
The City Council is not available for a telephone interview on the day Nettavisen contacts. Respond to emails through your communication advisers:
– It is a green access approved by the city council, not a park. Money was allocated to this project in the 2019 budget. It has not finally been decided which measures will be lowered in 2021, but it is true that the Urban Environment Agency has made its preliminary assessments.
Read also: Gave residents a huge bill – then parking spaces were removed: – This is not how we should continue in this city
Lan Marie Berg thus firmly rejects that it is a park. But the contracting company Norconsult, which has carried out the construction itself, refers to the project as a “park in Sognsvann” in its framework application.
According to the plan, the facility will create “increased quality of access to Sognsvann and Marka.” A cost estimate for the March 2020 project states that 375 shrubs and 100 trees will be planted.
– Green side areas
The Urban Environment Agency writes that “existing pedestrian crossings across the road will be abolished and adapted to correspond to a new pedestrian walkway on the green access”, to reduce “conflicts between users of the softway and vehicles in the parking area. “
Since before, the only contact between motorists and pedestrians on the road going down to Sognsvann is a twenty-foot crosswalk to the road going down to the barrier. This road has always been physically separated from the car park, which will now be “green access”.
Therefore, we asked the city council if there had been accidents or other unfortunate circumstances that would have led to the need for a “green access” in front of the forest.
– The professional assessment of the Urban Environment Agency is that the access from Sognsvann station to Sognsvann has been confusing with a lot of asphalt, parked cars and traffic. We cannot wait for a serious accident to occur. The new green access will provide a defined walking route, with lateral green areas, from the station to the water, says Berg.
ROCKS AND BUSHES: 375 shrubs and 100 trees were ordered for the area in the plan, showing the area from the subway crossing, on the left, to the new entrance to Sognsvann in the upper right.
Photo: Morten Solli
Understanding the preliminary project shows that aesthetics are kept high in planning, as here in a note from the preliminary project:
“We have drawn some trees and shrubs. Trees should be planted as a replacement for the concrete pigs in the south of the area. No lighting has been drawn, but it is planned. The walkway should not stray too far from the road because people will take a shortcut. The shortcut will create wear on the terrain and it will look ugly. “
Also read: Residents furious at the decision of the Urban Environment Agency: – We believe this is unreasonable
Downed electric car chargers
Even if all the parking that has been closer to the entrance to Sognsvann is removed, the entire parking area will be marked and there will be no paid parking there, the Urban Environment Agency says.
– The total number will be the same as today, but separate HC parking spaces will be created that have not been marked before, says Berg.
There will be a total of 670 parking spaces after conversion, according to the project management document.
A much-discussed topic in planning is the plans to install electric car chargers at the new site. This plan has now been scrapped, in part due to a lack of needs, according to Berg. Project documents show that there have also been conflicting regulatory purposes and concerns about the level of costs in relation to the value of the utility. The decision to phase out electric car chargers was made in May 2020.
Sognsvann is just the beginning of a large-scale municipal plan for such entrances to the land. The “Sports and Outdoors Needs Plan 2019-2028” outlines the plans for several of those “front doors.” Ulsrudvann and Skullerud are the next to come out, while Linderudkollen in Nordre Aker, and Badedammen / Steinbruvann in Bydel Grorud are also relevant, and also Trollvann, Bogstad and Frogdamientosteren are on the list.
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