Municipality of Vouliagmeni: Expropriates 289 acres claimed by the Church

The urban land expropriation 288,7 acres without compensation in an area of Vouliagmeni claiming from the Church, decided the Municipality - Varis - Voula - Vouliagmeni. This was preceded, according to the municipal authority, by 5 years of technical and legal preparation involving leading university lawyers and engineers.

The Municipal Council unanimously took this decision and in its communication describes the decision as historic for the safeguarding the physiognomy as a green suburb and the restoration of the environmental balance of Vouliagmeni, but also to prevent a wave of anarchic building that would irreversibly alter the current character and physiognomy of the city.

The background

In fact, the Municipality of Vari - Voula - Vouliagmeni chooses the frontal conflict with the Church, due to the efforts of the Archdiocese of Athens to develop its property in the area, which the local authorities largely characterise as common green spaces. The controversy began when the Archdiocese of Athens proceeded earlier this year to call for expressions of interest for about 40 plots of land, accepting however that some of them are urban unregulated, describing them as «untidy».

It therefore intends to sell or grant them long-term as they are, with the obligation of urban planning regulation - settlement to be borne by the investors, as explicitly stated in the relevant notice. It is noted that the Archdiocese has also made a second notice for other - settled - plots, the legality of which the municipality does not question.

What the municipality claims

The exclusive aim of the will of this city is to compensate and restore the environmental balance that has been upset today, as it was established in 1951 with the first urban plan of Vouliagmeni (Katsafaropoulos contract), it is noted in today's announcement.

As the mayor, Gregory Konstantellos, analysed in his presentation and then elaborated by the head of the legal team that elaborated the proposal, Professor of Administrative and Environmental Law at the School of Law of the University of Athens, Ms. Glykeria Siouti, the area of buildable areas in Vouliagmeni with successive amendments to the urban plan increased from 1,120 acres in 1951 (37%) to 1,682.38 (53%) while today it is 1,393.68 acres (46%).

Possible acceptance of the Church's positions and the pending declassification applications will bring this figure to 55%. This increase in the Church's buildable privately owned plots was made solely at the expense of the areas for public purposes and free from building provided for in the Katsafaropoulos contract, which shrank from 33% (1.008 acres) in 1951 to 15% (463.71 acres) today, as the Municipal Authority claims.This is why, moreover, the mayor of Vari - Voula - Vouliagmeni, Grigoris Konstantellos, states over time that ’the Church of Greece has received from Vouliagmeni more than it deserves«.

The administrations of the former Community and Municipality of Vouliagmeni, under the mayors Patricio Karageorgos and Gregory Kasidokostas, as Grigoris Konstantellos explained, stopped this reduction of free spaces by successively declaring expropriations. The inability of the Municipality to compensate these areas, however, has led in recent years to the declassification of the areas, although the administration of the former Municipality of Vouliagmeni and today the Municipality of Vari Voula Vouliagmeni consistently refuses to regulate these areas in terms of urban planning, drawing building lines and determining building conditions and land use. The new decision of the Municipal Council is based on the established case law of the Council of State and the Constitution, which upholds the principle of environmental balance and underlines that «the Church of Greece has already been compensated in kind, i.e. in land, for the disputed expropriations in multiples».

Mayor Grigoris Konstantellos, asking for the unanimous support of the Municipal Council, describing the decision as the most important decision taken by the Municipality of Vari Voula Vouliagmeni since its establishment, stressed that «our goal is to balance the environmental balance, protect the natural beauty of Vouliagmeni and maintain the quality of life for the residents of our city». Furthermore, he thanked the Legal Service, the Building Service and the Municipality's partners for their excellent work and expressed optimism that this great battle will be to the benefit of the city.