On 15th of February 2024, the Law Firm received a decision from the Regional Appeal Board in Poznań, stating – in accordance with the application submitted by the lawyers of the Law Firm’s administrative law department – the invalidity of part of the decision previously issued for the Law Firm’s Client, specifying the conditions for building and land development.
The aforementioned decision on building conditions concerns an investment involving the construction of a complex of commercial and service buildings along with accompanying infrastructure. In one of the points, this decision imposed on the investor the obligation to preserve the existing tree stand on the property and to design and implement the development in such a way as to prevent felling, damage, or threats to trees recognized by the issuing authority as trees of special natural value.
During the design phase and while applying for approval of the construction project and a building permit, however, it turned out that the removal of trees would be necessary for the investment to be realized. The authority responsible for issuing the building permit indicated that, due to the decision on building conditions, this would not be possible.
In this situation, the Law Firm’s lawyers prepared and submitted an application to the Regional Appeal Board to declare the invalidity of the decision on building conditions in the part concerning the removal of trees. In the justification of the application, they pointed out that, according to the current provisions of the law and in line with the views expressed in the case law of administrative courts, the issue of tree removal is regulated by the provisions of the Nature Conservation Act and must be decided in a separate administrative proceeding. It goes beyond the scope of the planning decision and cannot be regulated therein. There is no legal basis for including prohibitions or restrictions on the removal of trees and shrubs from the property in the decision on building conditions – just as in the local spatial development plan.
In the decision issued, the Regional Appeal Board fully supported the Law Firm’s position and declared the partial invalidity of the contested decision as issued with a flagrant violation of the law – opening the way for the Law Firm’s Client to obtain a building permit and implement the planned project.