For the second consecutive year, more than 120 residents of blocks 11 and 12 in Varna’s Pobeda neighborhood have been fighting to preserve a green space, parking area, and the only children’s playground in their vicinity. The area is under threat due to plans for a new residential building. Among the trees at risk are over 25 mature ones, including seven walnut trees—a protected species under Bulgarian law.
A court hearing regarding the case is scheduled for June 25, 2024, at the Varna Administrative Court. During this session, residents plan to request a comprehensive, triple expert examination of the existing vegetation. At a previous hearing, a court-appointed expert claimed that there is “no large valuable vegetation” on the site. Furthermore, no vegetation plan was included in the detailed zoning plan (PUP) for the proposed construction.
According to regulations, only the municipality has the authority to issue permits for the removal of protected species like the walnut trees. Experts have emphasized that this obligation remains even if the trees are dead or dying.
In March 2023, the chief architect of Varna approved a zoning plan for residential construction on the 1,687 square meters of green space. The plan includes the construction of a building up to 10 meters high, as well as the reconfiguration of the street layout to accommodate a secondary road leading to the new development. Currently, this space serves as a parking lot for two nine-story buildings with a total of 153 apartments and is home to mature trees.
In 2020, during a meeting of the Expert Council on Territorial Planning, it was decided that alternative road connections should be provided via the roundabout on “Hristo Smirnenski” Boulevard. However, no alternatives were presented, and two weeks later, it was confirmed that the parking lot would be converted into a secondary street.
The change in the zoning plan was initiated by the property’s owner, who acquired it in 2019 through adverse possession—a legal concept that raised concerns. Residents have questioned how the property, originally expropriated for the construction of a residential complex over 40 years ago and designated as municipal land, could have been acquired under such circumstances. They argue that adverse possession was not possible within the legal timeframe, as municipal and state property was under a moratorium on acquisition through adverse possession until February 2022. Furthermore, the required 10-year period for adverse possession had not passed by 2019, when the land was acquired.
According to documents provided by the Varna Municipality, the land was expropriated and no restitution claims were ever made. Longtime residents of the area are convinced that no one had used or claimed ownership of the property for decades. Yet, in 2020, a year after acquiring the property, the new owner sold it to a developer.
Suspicions of illegal acquisition prompted residents to file a complaint with Varna’s then-mayor, Ivan Portnih, in the summer of 2022. Just before the local elections, they received a response from the municipality, which shifted responsibility to the regional governor, claiming that the property had been state-owned.
In their complaint to the regional governor, residents have called for an investigation into the transaction, stating that there are “reasonable doubts that the transaction was unlawful and constitutes an attempt to unlawfully seize municipal or state property.”
