Kaunas city authorities unlawfully seized central plot for new kindergarten, court rules

Kaunas city authorities and the National Land Service (NŽT) acted unlawfully when seizing a centrally located plot and an unfinished market building for the construction of a new kindergarten, Lithuania’s Supreme Administrative Court (LVAT) ruled on April 1.

The court dismissed appeals by the municipality and NŽT, upholding a December 2024 ruling by the Regional Administrative Court that found no valid public need for the takeover. The 1.4-hectare plot on Šiaulių Street, leased to the company Stoties turgus until 2095, had been earmarked for a 960-capacity preschool—despite the city’s earlier plans for a 200-place facility on the same site.

In its final decision, LVAT stated that authorities failed to justify the seizure with a “concrete, unambiguous cost-benefit analysis” or demonstrate the project’s compliance with “principles of public benefit, efficiency, and rationality.” The land remains state-owned but was leased to Stoties turgus, which argued the existing structure, though unfinished, was not abandoned.

The company contested the city’s claims of urgent need, citing official statistics showing far greater demand for preschools in the Šilainiai and Aleksotas districts—not the central area. It also questioned the logic of building a single 960-place facility when the city’s average kindergarten size is under 200 children. Stoties turgus noted that Kaunas owns two unused 0.6-hectare plots nearby on Karaliaus Mindaugo and Kęstučio streets, which could alternatively host smaller preschools, but these options were never evaluated.

Kaunas authorities had argued that the central district lacks space for even a 200-child kindergarten and that reconstructing existing facilities is impossible due to height restrictions for early childhood education buildings. NŽT claimed the seizure aligned with legal requirements, emphasizing the land’s state ownership and the lessee’s alleged non-use of the property.

The court ultimately ruled that the city failed to prove the necessity of a 960-place preschool in the center or adequately assess alternative sites. The NŽT’s order to transfer the plot for public use was deemed “unfounded and unlawful.”