The platform Salvemos Los Pinares de Venice has communicated this Friday its decision to bring to justice the extension project of the Amusement park. They do it through a contentious-administrative appeal against this urban operation promoted by the City Council that plans to increase the surface of the current enclosure by more than five hectares. The platform considers that this intervention represents a serious threat to the natural environment of pine forest and denounces the lack of real justification for expansion.
According to the organization, the park currently has more than three hectares without using, so they do not understand the need to occupy new land. “The argument that it is about improving the current state of the park could be fulfilled within the existing limits,” they say from the platform, which has been mobilizing against this initiative for months.
One of the most controversial points is the environmental impact. And, they say, with the extension, the enclosure would pass from 97,000 to almost 152,000 square meters, directly affecting an area where more than 2,400 trees grow, mostly pines. In addition to those that already exist within the park, the total specimens at risk rises to 3,534. “It has gone from denying that no tree would be talked, to say that those proposed by the winning company will be eliminated,” they denounce, citing statements by the general director of strategic projects, José María Ruiz de Temiño.
In addition to environmental issues, the resource includes other urban conditions, such as the foreseeable increase in traffic in the Torrero neighborhood, especially in Fray Julián Garcés and Avenida de América streets, already congested by the proximity of Puerto Vencia. It also points to the increase in noise pollution and possible alterations in public transport routes, with changes that, according to the platform, “will make the daily mobility of the neighbors difficult.”
From the Pinares de Venice, they strongly criticize the lack of dialogue of the Zaragoza City Council, which has not taken into account the allegations presented by neighborhood groups and environmentalists. “The municipal government presumes environmental commitments in Europe while dedicating five million euros to roads and pipelines for the new park, and zero euros to pine protection,” they regret.
The platform has defended in this regard that the pine forests are a social and environmental legacy built for generations and asks for its declaration as “singular grove”, a protection figure that guarantees its conservation. “We are not going to stop until this forest, planted by Zaragoza hands, is treated with the respect it deserves,” they conclude.
