On average, the number of replacement plantings may increase threefold. This will be ensured by new provisions in the local law on the protection of green areas in Gdańsk. The purpose of the changes is to unify the principles of green environmental policy in investments and sustainable development of the city while maintaining biodiversity. Piotr Borawski, deputy president for entrepreneurship and climate protection, presented the assumptions of the new green policy of Gdańsk.
On Wednesday, August 4, the main elements of the draft resolution, which are to be discussed by the Gdańsk City Council at the next session, were presented. Following the resolution, the ordinance of the President of the City of Gdańsk will also enter into force, which will give the new regulations executive force.
As I announced at the June graduation session on the occasion of the Report on the State of the City, during the August session we will submit a draft resolution on the new green policy on the principles of replacement and replacement plantings – explains Piotr Borawski, Deputy Mayor for Entrepreneurship and Climate Protection. – If the resolution is adopted and approved by the services of the voivode Dariusz Drelich, this resolution will also be followed by the order of the mayor of Gdańsk, which is already prepared. These two documents constitute the whole of Gdańsk’s new green policy.
Regulations for the removal of greenery
The Mayor of the City of Gdańsk is not the only authority that issues decisions authorizing the removal of greenery in our city. In the event that the investment is implemented on a commune plot, such decisions are made by the Marshal of the Pomeranian Voivodeship. For areas entered in the register of monuments as a park, garden or other form of planned greenery, decisions are made by the Provincial Conservator of Monuments. However, in the case of forest areas, the decision-making body is the Regional Directorate of State Forests.
On behalf of the Mayor of Gdańsk, the decisions are issued by the Environmental Department of the Gdańsk City Hall. Wherever possible, the Department of Environment obliges applicants to carry out replacement plantings. If there is no such possibility, they must take into account the necessity to pay the appropriate fees. Importantly, the funds from these fees can only be used for environmental purposes.
These are the so-called “tagged means”. Their spending is carefully controlled by many organs of our state. We cannot spend this money on promoting the city, education or salaries for the administration. We spend them for specific environmental purposes, such as new plantings, replacement of black-tailed trees or Ekopatrol – explains President Piotr Borawski.
The act provides for certain exceptions that allow felling without replacement plantings or fees. This applies, inter alia, to natural persons who want to remove greenery on a private plot. Such an exception is also railway and road investments – implemented on the basis of a special act on specific rules for the preparation and implementation of investments in the field of public roads.
An important aspect is also the law commonly known as Lex Szyszko, which entered in 2017 and which drastically reduced the amount of the fee for logging – emphasizes Piotr Borawski.
New regulations
The presented draft resolution provides for a significant increase in the number of replacement plantings. The aim of the proposed solutions is to introduce uniform rules regarding greenery in investments. The new regulations will also facilitate the sustainable development of the city while preserving biodiversity, and issues regarding replacement plantings will become clearer. It will also be easier to create comprehensive and transparent nature documentation. Other important goals are to keep trees and shrubs in good health and to choose the least invasive care treatments.
According to the new law, natural documentation will be required for all applications for the removal of greenery in connection with the investment being implemented. It will include, among others dendrological survey and natural inventory. The number of replacement plantings will be determined by various criteria, such as the provisions of the Act, the perimeter of trees, local spatial development plans, reasons for removal, the sanitary condition of removed trees, as well as tree species to be planted.
Plantation calculator
Adequate environmental compensation will be applied depending on the circumference of the tree and the group to which a given tree belongs. In the case of trees belonging to the first group, i.e. species such as poplar, willow, horse chestnut, ash-leaved maple, silver maple, black locust or London plane tree with a circumference of 1 to 50 cm, it will be necessary to plant one tree for each removed.
The number of plantings increases with the circumference of the cut trees. For example:
- for each removed tree from the first group with a circumference of 151 to 200 cm, the investor will have to plant 5 new trees,
- and for those with a circumference of more than 200 and not more than 250 cm, as many as 6 new trees.
- Each tree removed from the first group with a trunk circumference of more than 250 cm will have to be replaced with as many as 7 new trees.
- As for trees from the second group, cutting down trees with a circumference of more than 80 cm will require the payment of a fee.
The new regulations also introduce modifiers that can increase or decrease the number of replacement plantings needed. As for the circumstances that have an impact on the increase in the number of plantings, these include, inter alia, provisions of the spatial development plan. Another factor that doubles the number of trees that must appear in exchange for those cut down is when the tree being removed is on the so-called City-wide System of Biologically Active Areas. In turn, a modifier that reduces the number of necessary replacement plantings may be the poor technical or health condition of the tree. The reduction may also occur when the reason for the removal is security, an air collision or when the tree is removed from the areas of the Family Allotment Gardens or from industrial areas.
A similar rate will apply to shrubs. For every 1 sq m of the removed bushes, 2 sq m will have to be planted in accordance with the new regulations. new. As in the case of trees, modifiers increasing or decreasing the planting area will apply.
Plantation parameters
In order to preserve biodiversity, native species will be preferred, and alien species, especially invasive ones, will be excluded. Only for exceptional situations, the possibility of using decorative forms will be limited. It is related to the preservation of the historical character in the areas where plantings are made. The preferred circumference of plants used for replacement plantings is 16 – 20 cm. Plants with such a circumference have a high survival rate. The availability of such seedlings in nurseries is also important here.
Where will the new trees appear?
In accordance with the assumptions of the draft resolution, in the first place, replacement plantings must be made on the plot from which trees were previously cut. If, for some important reasons, such a solution is not possible, the next indication is the area of the investment. If this is also not feasible, then plantings may be carried out in communal areas in a place agreed with the Road and Greenery Authority in the city.
Opportunities and threats
The new green policy of Gdańsk may contribute to increasing the green area in our city. It can also contribute to improving the quality of plantings as well as adapting them to climate change. On the threat side, one should mention a greater number of proceedings concerning logging of trees without a permit and the inability to balance logging in railway areas. The new law may also reduce the city budget revenues from environmental fees.
Forest areas
Councilor Beata Dunajewska, chairman of the club Everything for Gdańsk, referred to the issue of logging carried out in the areas managed by the State Forests.
I would like to refer to the investment in Stogi. The Zielona Fala Trójmiasto reported that 20,000 trees will be cut down in those areas. This information shocked the public opinion and us councilors. After a thorough analysis, it turned out that the Mayor of the City gave his consent to cut 247 trees – says Beata Dunajewska. – At present, applications for approximately 1,200 trees are being processed, all on areas owned by the State Treasury. The rest of the area belongs to the State Forests. We have little influence on how many trees will be cut and how many approvals the investor will receive. We have no idea where the money that the investor will pay for cutting trees will go. These funds are managed by the Directorate of State Forests. In this case, there is no question of replacement plantings or that the money from the cut will go to the Municipality of the City of Gdańsk. We call for transparency of the impact of money and transparency in the implementation of consents issued for logging in the areas of the State Forests. Trees are slaughtered in these areas. We would like someone to think about forest management in the area of the State Forests, and to realize that trees are cut down in a few minutes and they grow for several dozen years. As councilors of the City of Gdańsk, we appeal to stop this trend, which is very unfavorable for the environment. We would like to keep as many trees as possible – argued the Gdańsk councilor.
Ministerial challenges
In turn, Cezary Śpiewak-Dowbór, chairman of the Civic Coalition club, pointed to the problems that arise from national regulations.
What we care most about is the issue of replacement plantings. It is extremely important that trees are restored where there is an investment area and where there is a need to replace old trees with new ones. For these solutions to be effective, it is extremely important to make a statutory decision to increase logging fees, which should be considered by the Ministry of Climate and Environment and parliamentarians of today’s parliamentary majority. In our opinion, these fees should be a deterrent – explained Cezary Śpiewak-Dowbór. – Everyone who creates investments should think three times whether to cut down a tree or not. If these rates were appropriately higher, for example, as before Lex Szyszko, and still best valued to the real level, because the purchasing power of money changes over time.
Author: Jędrzej Sieliwończyk
Date of publication: 4 August 2021
