Protected plants slow one of Estonia’s largest housing projects

Protected plants and legal challenges are slowing Merko’s Lahekalda residential development in Tallinn, where 12 buildings with about 500 homes have been completed, ERR reports. The project is planned to include 25 buildings and around 1,000 homes.

The dispute centres on alpine meadow-grass, a protected species found in Estonia mainly on alvars and in limestone crevices. Nature conservationist Indrek Hein said the plant had been extensively stripped from the land. The Environmental Board is investigating the storage of soil in the protection zone of a nature conservation site and the resulting damage, according to its investigation department head, Rocco Ots.

Merko real estate head Indrek Tarto said the investigation concerns an incident involving soil storage in the protected area. Ots said a botanist who had previously surveyed the area discovered that the plants were at risk and raised the alarm.

Merko and Nordecon acquired 17 hectares on the boundary between the Maarjamäe and Lasnamäe districts in the early 2000s. A detailed plan for a large residential area was approved, but the project was delayed after the first developer faced financing difficulties.

In 2006, mountain cat’s-ear, a plant in Estonia’s highest protection category, was discovered on the limestone cliff. The area was placed under nature protection, and the development stalled. In 2015, the plant’s protected habitat was found not to overlap with the planned construction, and the area was removed from protection. Hein said environmental organisations still questioned how that decision had been made; Tarto said the state had concluded that development could continue.

Construction began in 2019, and the first residents moved into homes on Paekalda Street in 2020. Tallinn’s environmental and public utilities department head, Meelis Uustal, noted that the detailed plan was approved about 30 years ago, before environmental impact assessment was familiar in Estonia. The article says the project has also faced lawsuits from conservationists.