It’s difficult to imagine something like this happening in the 19th century.
Building on the coast means endangering the lives of tens of thousands of people — which was well known to our ancestors. Currently, the slopes and beaches of Odesa, the Black Sea port city of 1 million people located 500 kilometers south of Kyiv, are occupied by at least a dozen large construction projects. Developers blatantly ignore the articles of the Land and Water Codes, as well as Law No. 233-IX on ensuring free access for citizens to the coast of water bodies, which was signed by President Vladimir Zelensky earlier this year.
So how do developers violate the law and avoid courtrooms? We will break it all down into details.
First is the scandalous construction of the housing complex La Mer at the 13th station of the Big Fountain.
A quiet seafront away from city bustle, with a huge sandy beach, this is a real Mecca for beach soccer and volleyball lovers. The green terraces on the slopes, planted with perennial bushes and trees. Almost wild nature with pristine places. In 2017, chainsaws buzzed and in just a few days, despite the protests of activists and local residents, more than 200 trees were destroyed. Sophora, ash, acacia – the green symbols of Odesa fell under the saws of unknown loggers. An area of over just one hectare was obtained back in 2005 at one of the land auctions held by the Odesa municipality. The owner — a subsidiary of Intergal-Bud LLC — Firm Intergal planned to build a small cottage town instead, but over time, the developers plans changed dramatically.
In September 2019, residents learned that the La Mer complex (which translates to “sea” from French) will be built on the slopes. A nine-story red brick premium house with 320 apartments and a helipad on the roof – the company’s official website is full of promises of beautiful and luxurious life. Private beach, individual elevators, landscaped park, and several pools.
But outside the company’s website, the “sea” was storming. Almost every weekend, Odesa residents held rallies, others demolished the fence. The resonance in the media was extreme, so much so that the mayor of Odesa, Gennady Trukhanov, even made a rather strange statement on his Facebook page: “In the near future, a commission will be created to keep count of the existing inventory buildings while making sure the documents are in compliance with engineering, transport infrastructures, and all other city requirements.” Attempts to reach Trukhanov for his response were unsuccessful.
All documents regarding purchased land will be brought up from the early 2000s and checked for whether their intended purpose was being carried out. This primarily concerns the development of slopes in the coastal zone.
Agreed, it was a strange statement from the mayor, who at that time has held his position for five years. But what about the high profiled deputy commission? The city council architecture department and frightening architectural state inspectors? So it turns out that the city’s main manager was unable to make a deal between the departments and regulatory bodies which is why it was necessary to create another commission regulate existing buildings. The promise of Trukhanov remains empty. just another Facebook post that you shouldn’t pay attention to.
The only legitimate obstacle for the scandalous constructors was a lawsuit from members of the cooperative Labor Rest located above the construction site. In their lawsuit of District Administrative Court, residents of Odesa expressed their concern over the safety and dangers of building such constructions near their homes. The developer cut the slope and began to push the piles into the ground; violating the integrity of the terrace. And in general, the construction of such housing complexes in this place is illegal, since it violates the Water and Land Codes of Ukraine. In their lawsuit, the cooperators also referred to the purpose of the land — since in 2005 that same land was used to build a resort and recreation complex no higher than three or four floors.
The court partially pleased Labor Rest cooperators, but nevertheless banned the Intergal preparatory and construction work. The developer wasn’t thinking about stopping. He created a new scheme through officials from the Protection Office of the territory of the city, legalizing the construction. According to the documents, the building acts as a retaining wall and other elements to strengthen the slope and stabilize landslide processes for the development of infrastructure in the area.
This is a violation of the laws of Ukraine and is a direct call to the central government that local tsars will ignore any new legislative acts signed by Zelensky, including free access to water bodies. After all, the private beach at the residential complex La Mer is a direct confirmation of this fact. This information is still listed on the company’s website.
Such acts are impossible without “urgent corruption assistance” of top officials from the Odesa City Hall and Trukhanov, who over the years of power has been able to subjugate the courts, put the local police in manual mode and sell out Odesa, piece by piece.
Eugene Lysy is a journalist with Channel 7 Odesa, owned by the KADORR Group, which also publishes the Kyiv Post. Daryna Sarhan is the translation editor for Channel 7 Odesa.
