For the time being, no trees may be felled in areas such as Hesperia Park, the Administrative Court’s injunction says. However, Helsinki is confident that tree felling will be allowed in the final ruling.
The Helsinki Administrative Court has temporarily banned the felling of trees in both Hesperianpuisto and Hesperian esplanade between Töölönkatu and Mannerheimintie.
The area is undergoing a major reclamation of the Mannerheimintie, which is why old deciduous trees are planned to be felled.
The felling of trees on Mannerheimintie started yesterday, Tuesday, on the west side of Mannerheimintie, where the felling has now been completed. On Tuesday, 19 linden and four maple trees were felled.
– We didn’t even plan to go to that area this week, we had it planned for next week.
Controversy over flying squirrels and bats
On March 8, Kaupunkluontoliike ry submitted a request to ely center that the park trees in Töölönlahti must not be felled. The Ely center decided to leave the request for an injunction unexamined, after which the association appealed against the decision.
The case moved to the administrative court, where yesterday Tuesday an interim decision was made not to cut down the trees until the Urban Nature Agency’s appeal has been resolved.
Kaupunkluontoliike justified its original request to the ely center by saying that between Hesperianpuisto and the west side of Mannerheimintie there is a need for flying squirrels to connect from the west across Mannerheimintie to the Töölönlahti area.
According to the association, the flying squirrels take advantage of the edge trees growing along the street, which are going to be cut down with the street renovation.
The city of Helsinki has also investigated the distribution of flying squirrels in the urban area, and they have indeed been found around Töölönlahti.
However, the street plan leaves mature deciduous trees on the Hesperian Esplanade and the Hesperian park side, which flying squirrels could potentially use to cross Mannerheimintie. According to the reasoning of the Ely Center, the case is not about activities that violate the Nature Conservation Act.
In its complaint about the matter, Kaupunkluontoliike, on the other hand, demands that an up-to-date flying squirrel and bat survey must be carried out in the area of \u200b\u200bTöölönlahti and Hesperianpuisto.
According to the association, at the time the street plan was approved in 2015, there was no information about the spread of flying squirrels in the Hesperianpuisto area.
The city believes that tree felling will be successful
The administrative court’s decision on prohibited logging areas will probably be valid until the appeal against the ely center’s decision is resolved.
According to the city, the current street trees would probably not survive the renovation with vitality when deep trenches are made right next to the trees’ root systems.
According to Liisa Taskila, the head of the project construction unit, all the necessary investigations regarding the felling of trees have been done and the street plan adapts to the site plan.
At the turn of the month, the birds’ nesting season starts, so if the final decision of the administrative court extends until then, the city must apply for permission to fell trees from the environmental authority, for example during the summer.
According to Taskila, if getting a decision drags on until August, it will affect movement, slowing down the work on the retaining wall, and increasing costs, among other things.
– In the city, we start from the point of view that we have solid grounds for being allowed to cut down the trees. Let’s trust that we will get a decision according to what we have planned.
Largest renovation in history
– Construction site logistics are challenging, but also the implementation of temporary traffic arrangements. The work plan and schedule plan have been carefully prepared during the development phase, and this decision will of course affect them, says Pudas.
According to the street works plan, the edge of Hesperianpuisto would move no more than five and a half meters to the east during the renovation.
However, according to the official notice given to the Helsinki Nature Conservation Association, street works will affect up to 15 meters from the edge of the street area.
The new rows of street trees are going to be planted in a slightly different place than the current ones, so the trees will get better growing media.
The renovation started in March in the core center, and it was supposed to continue in two different stages around the Helsinki ice rink. During the renovation, two lanes are in use on the road, i.e. one in each direction.
The city of Helsinki has estimated that the renovation of Mannerheimintie is the largest, most demanding and most difficult construction site in the city’s history.