Mežapark residents challenge felling of 87 trees for cycle route

Residents of Mežapark, a neighbourhood of Riga, have taken the city to court in an effort to overturn a decision allowing 87 trees to be felled for cycling infrastructure, LSM reported.

The trees are along the planned Brasa-Sarkandaugava-Mīlgrāvis cycling route. The residents have filed their claim against the Riga City Development Department, seeking the complete cancellation of the administrative act authorising the felling.

A public consultation on the tree felling took place last year. After the responses were collected, officials concluded that most residents supported preserving the trees, said claimant Ilona Barkovska. She argued that the municipality may not have properly considered the consultation results before allowing the felling.

Barkovska also cited the Nature Conservation Agency, which said a solution should be found to preserve the trees because they fit into the cycling infrastructure.

Riga municipal spokeswoman Sintija Placinska said the claimant had objected to the felling of all the trees and had effectively raised objections to the construction permit for the cycling project. However, she said the permit itself was not the subject of the case. The hearing was postponed after the Nature Conservation Agency issued an opinion on the felling of 11 pine trees, and the court is scheduled to hear the case on October 15.

The original plan called for 96 trees to be felled. The revised proposal reduced that number to 87, which the municipality described as a positive result.

Placinska said the revised general plan also provided for the felling of other trees near Viestura Prospect in Sarkandaugava, mainly trees considered to be of lower value than those initially included in the plan. She said the railway-side route is already used by pedestrians and cyclists but has not been developed, and that the project is intended to create a cycling connection between Brasa, Sarkandaugava and Mīlgrāvis.