Poplar fluff, Ulyanovsk, June – Picture of the day – Kommersant

In Ulyanovsk, the court for the first time satisfied the claim of environmentalists about the illegality of the decision of the city administration to cut down poplars. The court indicated that the mayor’s office was unable to provide evidence substantiating the need for logging. City officials declined to comment on the situation. Experts call the court’s decision unique, noting that the issuance of logging tickets on illegal and dubious grounds “has become a system in Ulyanovsk.”

The Leninsky District Court of Ulyanovsk prepared the reasoning part of the decision on the claim of the head of the public organization “Legal Environmental Resistance” Natalia Lazareva. This is about resonant cutting nine adult pyramidal poplars, which was opposed by the residents of the microdistrict. As early as April 4, 2022, the City Center for Landscaping and Gardening (MUP GTSBO) applied to the mayor’s office with a statement about cutting down. On April 20, the commission examined the trees, listened to the arguments of Natalia Lazareva and other residents of the microdistrict. They stated that poplars are a green shield against dust and exhaust fumes. In addition, there are nests of rooks on the trees, and according to the law, cutting down trees is unacceptable until the end of the nesting period.

However, Ms. Lazareva was not invited to sign the examination report. According to her, the officials issued the felling ticket on the same date, and “neither in the act, nor in the felling ticket, the reasons for the demolition of trees were indicated.” The mayor’s office later said that demolition of the poplars was necessary to repair the storm drains below them.

However, the management of MUE Dorremstroy, on whose balance sheet the storm waters are, told Kommersant that there are no plans to repair the storm sewer in this place. And if required, the collector can be cleaned without cutting.

Environmentalists and residents of the microdistrict appealed to the deputies of the City Duma and the Legislative Assembly with a demand to prevent the felling of poplars. A similar request was sent to the prosecutor’s office. In June, the prosecutor’s office reported that it found no violations in the issuance of a logging ticket. And on June 28, the SCBO employees began cutting down poplars. The “Greens” tried to stop the destruction of trees, they called the prosecutor’s office and the deputies of the Legislative Assembly from the felling site, but to no avail.

On July 6, Ms. Lazareva filed a lawsuit against the mayor’s office of Ulyanovsk, the city department for environmental protection, and also against the State Central Botanical Center. She demanded that the issuance of a logging ticket be recognized as illegal. City officials said the cutting was necessary “due to the location of the root system of trees less than 1.5 meters from the reinforced concrete storm sewer pipe.” Because of this, “there is a destruction of the root system of reinforced concrete structures.” And about. Yevgenia Golovina, head of the mayor’s office for environmental protection, added that “there were no signs of nesting.” However, Ms. Lazareva stated in court that the presence of nests can be seen in the photo and video.

The court concluded that the mayor’s office issued documents in violation of the procedure of administrative regulations. In addition, the defendant did not provide justification for the removal of trees – neither plans for the production of work, nor proof of the destruction of reinforced concrete structures. The mayor’s office stated that this was not necessary, but the court called these arguments untenable.

At the same time, the court considered the plaintiff’s arguments about the nests unproven, since the Environmental Protection Agency stated that there were no more chicks in the trees at that time.

As a result, the court declared the issuance of a logging ticket illegal. The mayor’s office does not agree with this, but the decision to appeal has not yet been made. Ms. Golovina declined to comment, the first deputy mayor was not available for comment during the day, the head of the legal department of the mayor’s office, Yulia Shagaeva, citing being busy, did not comment on the situation.

Natalia Lazareva thanked the court for its objectivity. At the same time, she does not rule out that she herself can appeal against the decision regarding the refusal to compensate for the damage from the destruction of bird nests. She also noted that after the court’s decision, the mayor’s office issued a permit for cutting down trees in the Ekran square in the city center “with the same and much greater violations.” “Now it is necessary to sue this unjustified demolition of trees,” she complains.

Lawyer Konstantin Tolkachev, who represented the interests of Natalia Lazareva in court, called the decision a “significant story”: “This is a very important decision that reveals the vicious practice of the mayor’s office of issuing logging tickets without taking into account the opinions of the townspeople, without having good reasons for this, and even without observing elementary norms and legal requirements . This small example with nine trees demonstrates that officials have long lost all fear in dealing with issues of demolition of green spaces, it has already become a system.”

“This is a unique case for Ulyanovsk. Usually, the courts took the side of the authorities in environmental matters, – said Alexander Kaplin, an expert of the regional headquarters of the ONF, ex-head of the regional department of Rosprirodnadzor, in an interview with Kommersant. – The favorable environment in Ulyanovsk ceases to be favorable, green areas are shrinking. It seems that they want to squeeze the maximum amount of money out of every square meter, but not create favorable conditions for the citizens.” According to the expert, the authorities “violate as much as society and supervisory authorities allow them to, and until responsibility comes, they will continue to violate the law.” “Therefore, there is only one way out – to continue to go to court,” said Mr. Kaplin.

Sergey Titov, Ulyanovsk