Members of the Kyiv City Council did not support the petition #12975 "Stop the continuous destruction of green spaces" by Dmytro Skrypnyk, a Kyiv resident, which was signed by 6,025 citizens. They stated that they could stop mowing grass in the adjacent territories only if the legislation was amended.
This was reported by Khmarochos.
The author of the petition, in addition to stopping the continuous destruction of green spaces in the adjacent territories, asked to review and regulate regulations on the care of grass, bushes and trees on plots in residential areas of the city together with competent environmentalists and urban planning specialists.
Dmytro Skrypnyk argued the need for this by the fact that green spaces are the main tool of thermoregulation in the city and prevent the spread of soil on the sidewalks. In addition, in his opinion, their absence makes the area aesthetically unattractive and spoils the image of residential areas, as well as generates dust and dirt that citizens are forced to breathe.
"It is important to stop the complete destruction of grass, which does not bring any benefit to the citizens and harms the ecology of the city", – the Kyivan is confident.
He also noted that more than 18,000,000 hryvnias are spent every year on weeding in residential areas.
Instead, when formulating a response to the petition, the deputies of the Kyiv City Council referred to a number of legislative norms and landscaping rules, which require communal workers to mow lawns when the grass grows up to 15 cm. According to the rules, the maximum height of an ordinary lawn should not exceed 10 cm, a parterre (part of the landscape design ) – 5 cm. In Ukraine, parterre lawns are mowed an average of 15-18 times per season, ordinary lawns – 10-14.
According to the deputies, mowing the grass promotes vegetation and also prevents the reproduction of ticks. They also assure that without watering, even an uncut lawn will still dry out.
The Kyiv City Council stated that they can change the approach only in case of amendments to the legislation.
A year ago, EcoPolitic talked about the fact that in Kyiv, in the Poznyaki microdistrict, community workers mowed down an area of natural growth of various grasses, which they promised not to touch.