A barrage of appeals to “gobble up” Ymittos

Tens of landowners in Ymittos are even thinking of taking their cases to the European Court of Human Rights, seeing as their plans are being permanently cancelled by the strict presidential decree on the protection of the mountain.

Landowners from the “Gyrisma” and “Analipsi” settlements in Terpsithea of Glyfada, as well as owners from Koropi and Agia Paraskevi, declare they are ready to challenge the big obstacles to further construction on the overburdened mountain, starting with taking the PD to the CoS. The municipalities of Kropia and Paiania are also getting ready to appeal to the CoS.

They maintain that “by adopting measures for the protection of Ymittos, the state has literally and legally blocked hundreds of properties with no specific reason that pertains to serving the public interest. Thus, these properties have lost their commercial value and led their owners into despair”, explains constitutionalist Apostolos Papakonstantinou, who is dealing with the case on a legal level and represents about 240 individuals in Koropi, Vari, Glyfada and Agia Paraskevi.

He even mentions a recent study by the National Technical University commissioned by his office, whereby the freezing of property for the protection of Ymittos and the environment is not justified, since these areas are not part of the mountain. As noted in the report, these areas are not woodland; thus, they require no special environmental protection, and have the same geo-morphological features as areas located within the city plan of the Municipality of Glyfada. In fact, they recommend the areas be entered in the city plan with a building factor of 0,8.
 

Pressure for the inclusion in the city plan

For decades now there have been many attempts to turn the areas of the mountain owned by individuals or associations into plots.

According to Papakonstantinou, in a series of decisions by its city council in recent decades, the Glyfada municipality had been asking for the inclusion of the areas of the “Gyrisma” and “Analipsi” settlements in Terpsithea into the city plan, along with the neighboring areas of Kafepolon and the building associations of civic employees of the Defence ministry.

As a result, a presidential decree was drafted in 1999, which included these areas. But the PD was stopped by the CoS on the grounds that it was impossible to release these properties, as such a thing would have led to an unacceptable reduction in the protection of Ymittos.

In the new decree adopted by the Environment ministry, the limits for absolute protection are increased by 25% (zone A, 93.00 acres from the 76.00 provided in the 1978 decree), prohibiting construction and closing all doors for the illegal refectories that were transformed into villas. In zone B, the levels of integrity are increased from 4 to 40 acres and exemptions are eliminated.

"The images of the aerial photographs are revealing. Large areas of lowland status and away from the foot of Ymittos are excessively and unreasonably bound. In addition, whole settlements with hundreds of houses are within the protection zone, causing concern about their fate”, Papakonstantinou explains, adding that justice might be found at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. “Any owner not vindicated by the CoS can seek recourse in this court”.