Partial victory of the neighbors mobilized against a new parking lot in Chamberí. The court of first instance number 103 of Madrid opens proceedings for the controversial construction of 130 parking spaces on Arapiles Street, along with another parking lot with 1,200 spaces. The admission to processing of the lawsuit against the developer Arapiles Park SL, presented by the community of owners of number 10 of said road and supported by the illegal felling of 15 trees, implies the suspension of work pending resolution.
The works, which started in October although they have barely progressed since the specimens were eliminated, had the approval of the José Luis Martínez-Almeida City Council. The presiding councilor of Chamberí, Jaime Gozález Taboada, later acknowledged in a district plenary session that the logging was carried out without the construction company receiving municipal permits.
The Environment, Urban Planning and Mobility area also admitted the irregularity, but rejected the precautionary suspension demanded by residents and opposition parties such as Más Madrid. According to Taboada, the City Council is working on a sanctioning file against the developer. The municipal Executive has not yet responded to the questions posed by this newspaper about the suspension of the works due to the judicial investigation.
Cautious joy
“The process has been long and we are very happy with this decision. But we should not claim victory because it is just a gargantuan,” a neighborhood spokesperson who prefers not to give his name declares in conversation with Somos Chamberí. The ultimate objective of the neighbors is to get the Justice Department to overthrow the administrative procedure that facilitated the approval of the work: “Now we can go against the special plan because the starting situation is different, due to those illegal logging not contemplated in it. If the paradigm changes, the special plan must also change.”
The activity permit was granted in June, thus complying with the special plan for the Urban-Environmental Control of Uses on Arapiles Street, 8, approved by the municipal plenary session on May 31, 2022. Five years before, in 2017, the The local government then led by Manuela Carmena rejected the approval of the license to execute these same parking lots despite commissioning the drafting of the project.
According to the special plan report, eight of the 15 illegally felled trees should have retained their location. The other seven had to be transplanted. Among the devastated trees are some large ones, such as a 20-centimeter-diameter cypress or an enormous pine that reached 30.
The neighborhood spokesperson advances that there are other “disagreements between the special plan and what the construction company is doing.” He cites as an example the unevenness of one of the ramps, which reaches 18% compared to 16% over the project. He also talks about “other technical defects” that have not been used in his writing to focus on “a more forceful and demonstrable action such as logging.” “Requesting a license review would be more laborious. They would tell us that they can correct the defects, although we know that it is impossible. With the trees cut down they can’t even use that excuse,” he explains.
Thus, neighborhood complaints do not refer only to the irregularity in the removal of trees, the basis of the lawsuit. They argue that it is “an absolutely necessary provision.” “We have a PAIR [aparcamiento para residentes] with almost 1,200 seats in the Plaza del Conde del Valle de Súchil. Also a nearby public parking lot where there are always free spaces. It is one of the areas of Madrid with the most parking spaces in all the plots,” this neighbor detailed in previous statements to this newspaper.
Requesting a license review would be more laborious. They would tell us that they can correct the defects, although we know that it is impossible. With the trees cut down they can’t even use that excuse
Beyond the logging or the surplus of parking in the area, security is the great concern of the neighbors. Specifically, as the spokesperson for those affected explains, the effect on the structure of their homes: “The footing foundation with which the blocks were built is within the plot, since it was from the same developer who built the buildings.” He therefore believes that excavation work can compromise the foundations of their houses.
“The current piloting systems produce a terrible vibration that the HM Eye Center ophthalmological surgical center, dependent on the Hospital Madrid clinic, will also suffer,” he warns. Another of their fears is the impact on evacuation systems: “During the execution of the works, a four-story deep drain will be carried out. In the months that it lasts, we will be unattended, for example, in the event of an emergency that requires the firefighters. How will a fire occur in the homes that open to the drain? Just recently there was a fire outbreak that did not get worse thanks to the quick action of the firefighters.”
Their protests are not limited to the period of execution of the works: “Then the damage to health will be receiving the vapors from the respirators and ventilation systems on our facades, in addition to the carbon dioxide emitted by cars. To this we must add the alternative diesel engine, which is installed in case the electrical network fails, and we do not know if it will also breathe on our façade.”
Speculation and indignation among the residents of Arapiles
Many of those affected consider that behind the operation is the landing in the neighborhood of two new private university campuses: one of Alfonso X el Sabio and another of the International Business University (UNIE). “But these 100 places are not going to solve their lives either,” adds the spokesperson.
Tell that Vallehermoso [constructora ahora integrada en Sacyr que da nombre al barrio de Chamberí donde se ubica la calle Arapiles] “He already tried to make two parking spaces on each side of what is now El Corte Inglés, but gave up due to technical and security criteria.” Precisely on one of these sides, work began to put the new underground parking into operation. The license was initially awarded to Merlin Properties, the largest real estate investment company listed in Spainwhich later sold it to Arapiles Park SL
The residents of Arapiles had previously resorted to judicial proceedings, until now without success. In July, the First Section of the Administrative Litigation Chamber of the Superior Court of Justice of Madrid confirmed the legality of the process. They have also tried to meet with the municipal Executive. According to the resident who reports to this newspaper, both Taboada and the delegate of Urban Planning, Environment and Mobility, Borja Carabante, “cancelled their appointments at the last minute.” “At the City Council they did not give us the project to analyze it and raise allegations or a license review,” he criticizes. They finally ended up receiving it “thanks to a court order.”
In parallel with the demand, residents have intensified their demonstrations since the work began. In the blocks of the area there are many banners with the message “Arapiles Parking NO”. On October 5, several residents attended the rally on Abtao and Cavanilles streets in Retiro against a similar infrastructure authorized by Almeida’s team, and which also involved felling. “There they had a permit for pruning and they took the opportunity to cut down trees, as we believe happened in our case. It’s an oversight that interests them. It is profitable for them even if they pay the 60,000 euros fine,” he speculates. In Abtao, the threat of the transfer of a 38-ton tunnel boring machine above residential blocks caused the authorities to have to temporarily stop the work, despite the municipal permit.
“A small area of trees in the center of Madrid is more important than in Retiro. They are the lungs of the area. This policy accepted and protected by the City Council seems unprecedented to us,” says the spokesperson for the affected blocks. He prefers to be cautious before anticipating what the next steps will be if Justice suspends the special plan: “We are going to go in parts. But we understand that, by issuing the precautionary measure, the judge has seen signs that we are right.”
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