The building department’s haste in Melo to issue dozens of building permits just before the law freezing them until the end of the year is published in FEC is causing concern.
On the one hand, the mayor of Milos, Manolis Mikelis, says that the island “is neither a field of arbitrariness nor a place of anarchic interventions”, asking in writing for the YDOM to suspend building permits for a period of at least sixty days, until the Council of State rules on the suspension application filed by the municipality.
On the other hand, however, the building department, “assisted” by private engineers, has shown how a public department can overreach itself by issuing 33 permits in a matter of days and before the law suspending permits on the island until the end of the year is published in the Official Gazette! In fact, according to Kathimerini, the publication of the law did not deter some people who signed an additional 20, which are illegal!
The amendment passed in Parliament, among other things, provides:
1) the possibility to suspend construction work in areas where a Special Urban Plan (SIP) is being prepared and
2) the suspension of building permits and construction work in off-plan areas of the island of Milos, where a unique geological formation is found, until the issuance of the SIP.
It extends afrom Cape Kambanes to Cape Kalogeros, including the areas of Sarakinikos, Kaminias and Motaka, where construction or expansion of tourist units has been halted by decisions of the Council of State following appeals or instructions from SYPEN.
Avoidance of fait accompli
According to the ministry, “this regulation concerns the immediate suspension of the issuance of building permits in the areas of the island of Milos outside the city plan and outside the settlement, as well as the suspension of construction works in the area where a unique geological formation is found, which was formed due to volcanic activity. The suspension is aimed at avoiding final situations that would overturn the essence of the urban planning and at the same time not causing irreparable damage to the unique geological formation of the area’.
The case of Milos and the work on the world-famous rock was heard on 6 May in the Eˈ Section of the Council of State (and a decision is expected) as a pilot case that is set to redefine the framework for off-plan building across the entire Aegean island complex. At the heart of the matter is the question of whether the approval of environmental conditions and building permits for settlement-scale complexes are lawful in the absence of comprehensive spatial planning.
The main point of friction concerns the size of the intervention in relation to the resilience of the local ecosystem. The project study envisages the construction of 130 swimming pools – a number that causes strong concerns in the Municipality of Milos and environmental bodies.
At the same time, the issue of underground buildings is raised, arguing that this typology is not in harmony with the traditional architectural identity of Milos nor is it supported by the existing institutional framework.
The legal representatives of the associations and the Local Government introduce a crucial rationale: an investment of such a size cannot be treated as a simple building on an off-plan land.
The judiciary has already shown its stance on the case in question.The Parole Board had previously frozen work on 11 buildings and 127 swimming pools, ruling that the environmental burden may be irreversible until the final verdict.
The decision on the merits will determine whether the pressure of over-tourism is legitimate to take precedence over the Local Area Plan (LAP). In addition, the potential threat to the neighbouring Wildlife Sanctuary will be investigated, as well as the correctness of the competent authorities’ assessments based on studies whose legitimacy is questioned.
Ph2>Pools are springing up
And while the Planning Department of Milos issued a month ago an order stopping the implementation of a building permit that it had approved – the third in a row in recent months – for the construction of a 5-star hotel in Agios Konstantinos, in the northern part of the island, the YDOM was signing building permits without… “many of the permits issued in the last few days before the suspension are ’empty shells’, as they are not accompanied by the basic prerequisites”.
At least ten of the 53 building permits issued since April 30 don’t even contain the basic details, such as the structure involved, the location of the property. Typical is the case of a building permit for a residential complex with four swimming pools, which has almost no details. None of the two hotels that issued permits have no building diagrams or topography uploaded to the building permit system, according to the newspaper.
Finally, it is worth noting that only five permits are for residential properties, while 13 are for complexes, almost all with swimming pools. Also, a permit was issued for a private MOT in the Turkopotamos area. In total, 33 permits were issued between April 30 and May 4, representing 9,057 square meters of building space.
