“Operational Plan for the Securing of Public and Community Spaces – E.S.E.K.K. of the Municipality of Elliniko – Argyroupoli”
A total of 147 public and community-use spaces were recorded and evaluated in the Municipality of Elliniko–Argyroupoli, which was included in the funding program “Environmental Balance Actions 2021” of the Green Fund under Priority Axis 2 (P.A.2) “Urban Regeneration and Other Environmental Balance Actions.” The purpose was to develop an Operational Plan for the Securing of Public and Community Spaces – E.S.E.K.K. – for the Municipality of Elliniko–Argyroupoli.
The E.S.E.K.K. aims to contribute to the full implementation of the city plan through the acquisition of designated public and community spaces. It focuses on recording the current status of these areas, for which expropriation has not yet been carried out. Specifically, it included documenting the current condition and categorizing these areas into one (1) of four (4) categories as defined in paragraph 2, Article 92 of Law 4759/2020. Subsequently, these areas were prioritized based on their necessity for the broader urban planning of the Municipality (paragraph 5, Article 92 of Law 4759/2020).
This service was successfully carried out (Municipal Committee Approval – Decision No. 48/2024 – Code 96T1ΩΡ7-2ΨΗ) by the contractor company LEVER – Development Consultants S.A., a member of the Samaras & Partners Group. Initially, the existing condition of the designated but not yet expropriated areas was recorded.
According to the technical specifications of Circular No. Oik.YPEN/DESEDP/57771/774/14-6-2021 and its amendments, the E.S.E.K.K. documented all public and community spaces foreseen in the approved town plan of a municipality, whether already acquired or not yet expropriated for any reason. These spaces were then categorized and prioritized based on the necessity of their acquisition. The Municipality is now required to take immediate action to prevent the loss of public and community spaces. The Municipal Council may, based on this prioritization, proceed with partial or complete reimposition of urban planning expropriation, provided that certain cumulative conditions are met.
Based on the above, in the E.S.E.K.K. of the Municipality of Elliniko–Argyroupoli:
A total of 147 public and community spaces were recorded and evaluated:
- 77 spaces fall under the general use category of “Open Spaces – Urban Greenery”
- 70 spaces fall under the general use category of “Community Facilities”
Of these, 12 public and community spaces were identified where expropriation has not taken place (4 public and 8 community spaces).
These areas were then categorized based on their “pending” status with values ranging from 1 to 4:
According to the technical specifications of Circular No. Oik.YPEN/DESEDP/57771/774/14-6-2021:
- Value 1 represents case (a): “spaces for which urban expropriation has been lifted by court decision” and a plan amendment is pending.
- Value 2 represents case (b): “spaces for which an application for lifting the expropriation has been submitted or a court decision is pending.”
- Value 3 represents case (c): “spaces for which expropriation has automatically been lifted, but no application for a plan amendment has been submitted.”
- Value 4 represents case (d): “other spaces not falling under the above cases.”
Subsequently, the prioritization of pending public and community spaces was conducted for both settlements based on their necessity in the broader urban planning of the study area (with values from 1 to 5, where 1 indicates very low necessity and 5 indicates very high necessity), always in accordance with the aforementioned Circular and its amendments. This prioritization was carried out using multi-criteria analysis, considering factors such as population density and served population, urban planning standards for open green/community-use areas, the category and type of the space, its distance from other existing public/community areas, etc.
The spaces were then grouped based on their acquisition necessity level and the different owners involved, who may complicate the process. The stakeholders identified include private individuals, entities from the broader public sector, etc.
Given the above, and considering that:
- If the Municipality does not proceed with the required actions, an area of approximately 30,135.7 m² (3.01 ha) of public and community spaces will be lost. This demands immediate action and makes the Municipality’s engagement of utmost importance.
- Following the automatic lifting of expropriation, and in the absence of relevant applications by private individuals to the Municipality concerning “pending” spaces, the Municipal Council may, based on the current prioritization of acquisition necessity, proceed with partial or full reimposition of urban expropriation, provided specific cumulative conditions are met.
- In light of the potential financial inability of the Municipality to immediately compensate beneficiaries, it is noted that: “the relevant expenditure entry in the municipal budget is made simultaneously with the registration of an equal revenue amount from funding provided by the Green Fund,” which this Operational Plan seeks to achieve.
