Long road to the beach: why fences grow on the way of vacationers

In Miass, summer residents decided to restrain the vacationers who were constantly scurrying to Lake Turgoyak and installed a fence in the area between the yacht club and the sanatorium. Local residents were outraged and complained to public figures. Meanwhile In Samara, a scandal erupted: the townspeople accused the employee of the regional Ministry of Construction of illegally blocking the entrance to the Volga with concrete fences. The governor intervened in the matter, instructing to understand the situation. Cases when fences suddenly appear on the way of those who want to rest near the water are far from uncommon. Chronicles of confrontations and expert advice – in the material “Izvestia”.

Do not pass, do not pass?

A serious scandal erupted in Samara. Residents complained about the concrete blocks that suddenly “grew” on the Third Prosek and blocked the exit to the Volga. For many years, the locals loved to swim here, brought boats, and now the traditional rest has come to an end. The head of one of the departments of the Ministry of Construction of the Samara Region, Nadezhda Vekhova, who has a house next to the descent, was accused of violations. “There has always been a passage and a passage to the Volga. 42 years. And this summer this lady decided to block this passage for us. Quite simply. And the passage too, ”local residents complained to REN TV journalists.

They say: recently a man drowned in this place – the ambulance failed to drive up to the rescue station, the doctors did not manage to provide assistance in time. After that, the residents themselves removed the blocks, but they appeared again. The situation literally heated up: On July 17, Molotov cocktails flew towards the house of Nadezhda Vekhova. Law enforcers opened a criminal case under the article “Threats of murder or infliction of grievous bodily harm.” It got to the point that the governor of the Samara region Dmitry Azarov instructed to conduct an inspection and figure it out.

The second side of the conflict has its own truth, so everything is not so simple in this story. As local media wrote, the concrete blocks at the slope were installed by the local administration on the order of the environmental prosecutor’s office.

“You can and should use the beach. You cannot drive a car there and park there, since there is no specially provided hard surface“, – said Alexander Kuznetsov, head of the administration of the Oktyabrsky intracity district of Samara, to REN TV.

Izvestia also sent a request to the government of the Samara region and the district administration with a request to comment on the situation, who is to blame and what is the reason for blocking the passage. At the time of publication, there was no prompt response from the local administration. But the Ministry of Construction of the Samara Region explained to us that nothing else but harassment of Nadezhda Vekhova can be called what is happening: the blocks were installed by the administration, an individual simply has no right to do so. And Vekhova’s only fault is that she decided to fight with loud music coming from cars, garbage and illegal crossing of the river. The prosecutor’s office reacted to the complaint, recorded violations and made a submission.

“Harassment was organized against Vekhova and her family members by a group of people who carry out illegal transportation across the Volga River. Nadezhda’s mom got to the hospital with a heart attack, dad is afraid to leave the house, – told “Izvestia” in the press service of the Ministry of Construction of the Samara region. – The crossing in this place is spontaneous: they come with boats and transport people across the river for money“.

The ministry notes that a civilized descent is organized nearby, which private traders are engaged in – with toilet cubicles, trash cans, a place for storing and launching boats. True, they offer to look after the boats for money, so people decide to save money and go to another slope.

“Vekhova, together with its neighbors, advocates for the bank of the Volga to be clean, without garbage, so that everything is civilized. Residents complained about loud music and cars. Children have nowhere to sunbathe: up to 120 cars are left on the small beach. There is also a water protection zone – according to the law, there should be no vehicles at all on the beach“.

By the way, at a meeting of representatives of the environmental prosecutor’s office, local residents and the head of the administration, which took place on August 6, it was decided to remove concrete blocks that interfere with the passage of vehicles to the beach. And then they will think about how to arrange a descent for swimming facilities.

Unsuccessful fence

Residents of the Chelyabinsk region, or rather Miass, complained on social networks about summer residents who decided to block the path to Lake Turgoyak. They put up a ladder to the lake at their own expense, and then a fence blocking the passage, which was announced with a sign: “You are in the private territory of the owners of summer cottages. This is not a public place! (It’s up to the fence)“.

“Who built these houses there? Who is the owner who considers the Turgoyak bank to be his “private property”? – asks the author of the post in the community “Civil Patrol. Miass “. – We, like other vacationers, climbed over this fence to get to our favorite places, in response the so-called private owners of a part of the territory of the natural monument smeared their fence with solid oil“.

The activists prepared an appeal to the local administration and the Ministry of Ecology of the Chelyabinsk region.

“The war against fences and trespassers continues daily. Already today we will send specialists of the OSU “Specially Protected Natural Areas” and supervision specialists to conduct an inspection on this fact. In any case, there must be a free 20-meter zone“, – wrote the Deputy Minister of Ecology of the Chelyabinsk Region Vitaly Bezrukov on August 6 in his Telegram channel.

A similar situation has recently occurred in Tver. The fishermen of the nearby village and SNT stumbled upon a fence on their usual route and realized that there would be no bite in the near future: the land on the shore was sold, and the territory was fenced off. According to numerous requests, specialists from the regional departments of Rosprirodnadzor and Rosrybolovstvo, the environmental prosecutor’s office came to the water protection zone for an inspection. In general, the check will show who is right and who is wrong. By the way, not all of them violated: some new settlers of the picturesque territories studied the norms even before the start of construction. Looking at the inspectors, just in case they promised not to break the law.

“Just why put and then demolish, – the owner of the site on the banks of the Volga shrugs. – Get a prescription and take it down.

Big temptation

According to the Water Code of the Russian Federation, surface waters in state or municipal ownership are public water bodies, that is, for everyone. They can be used subject to the legal regime of the water protection facility. The width of the generally accessible coastal strip is 20 m. If the length, for example, of a canal, a river and a stream from source to mouth is no more than 10 km, then the width of the coastal strip will be 5 m. You cannot block the exit to it.

“A so-called public servitude has been installed on this strip, that is, everyone has the right to freely be at the facility: lie down, sunbathe, swim, fish. Imagine that in Moscow, for example, you fenced off the sidewalk with some kind of posts and decided that it was yours. But this is not yours! So it is with public water bodies. The sea, the river, the lake – everyone can be there. So it is written in the law, and no one can restrict access to them – in this case you are just doing an amateur activity, – explains to “Izvestia” Director General of the Center for Legal Support of Environmental Management Boris Kokotov. – In the Russian Federation, only ponds and watered quarries can be privately owned. You can build your own pond and not let anyone in. ”

According to the expert, stories with fences are a massive phenomenon. It all started in 2007, after the new Water Code of the Russian Federation was adopted.

“New Water Code emerged amid the lord’s campaign [заместителя руководителя Росприроднадзора Олега] Mitvol to identify individuals who have built houses near water bodies in violation of the legal regime of the water protection zone. It was impossible to build houses within the water protection zone, but people were building, – says the expert. – Then a new Water Code appeared, which allowed to build objects in the water protection zone, but on condition that they will not negatively affect the water body. Since then, people began to build houses en masse, and those who have already built them, thus legalized them. Problems began to access the foreshore, because, having built a house at the water’s edge, people naturally wanted to build their own pier and not see anyone there“.

Senior Lecturer at the Department of Civil Law and Procedure at Synergy University Alexander Alekseev notes that in each specific case of violation, it is necessary to separate emotions from the legal assessment and investigate the legal regime for the use of the water body…

“Within the water protection zone, restrictions are imposed on certain types of economic activities. In particular, there is a ban on movement and parking of vehicles if there is no hard surface.“, – the expert notes.

Use it yourself and let others

Recently in the Crimea, vacationers complained about the actions of the guard of the Foros sanatorium: he drove them with a whip from the beach of a medical sanatorium where people did not live. The guard, to put it mildly, went too far, but as for the access to the beach of the medical sanatorium, it is really limited.

“There are sanatoriums with special sanitary requirements. For example, a medical sanatorium, where there is a threat of the spread of certain diseases. Therefore, in this sense, within the framework of compliance with sanitary norms and rules, they can restrict the access of certain persons to the territory used by the guests of the sanatorium, but, again, in order to prevent violations of sanitary norms and rules“, – explains Boris Kokotov.

In other cases, there should be no access restrictions. The expert says that some sanatoriums in the Moscow region, located near the water, even make special gates for “not theirs” so that people do not wind kilometers along the fence in search of an exit to the water…

“This happened after the reaction of the prosecutor’s office. People complained and the sanatoriums reacted – they began to leave the passage and thus provide access to the foreshore. “

Alexander Alekseev gives an example of using the coastal strip in Turkey, where the entire coast is built up with hotels.

“Each hotel has its own coastal area, which must be maintained in good condition (for example, to protect the places where turtle eggs are laid). Between the beaches belonging to the hotels, there are passages 15–20 m wide, providing free access to the sea for all citizens. The passage along the coastal strip is free and unrestricted by anyone. If citizens living near a water body believe that their rights to access such an object are violated, then they can apply to the local administration with an application for the establishment of a public easement, that is, to receive the right of limited use of someone else’s land“, – the expert notes.

No need for amateur performance

What to do if a fence suddenly appears on the familiar path to a river, lake or sea? Experts recommend fcapture violations. It is advisable to take a photo with reference to the place, view of the water body… The photographs, advises Boris Kokotov, must be attached to the application to the relevant authorities. A violation should be reported to the territorial department of Rosprirodnadzor or the department that deals with regional environmental supervision – for example, the local Ministry of Ecology. Another option is the environmental prosecutor’s office, if there is one in the region.

“There are many such cases. The invader clearly violates [законодательство]… But in order for the violation to end with conclusions for him, an adequate response from government agencies is necessary, the expert says. – Not everyone has enough courage to cut down the hated fence. Yes, it is not necessary. It is important to contact the authorities so that they have already applied appropriate response measures to violators. “

According to him, all disputes and prohibitions are caused by people’s illiteracy and misunderstanding. “If there is a certain prohibition or restriction, you can organize your own living in such a way as not to anger people in the area: you built a house, and there are 25 more villages nearby, whose residents are used to coming to the river, and then a fence appeared, – says Boris Kokotov. – We need to negotiate so that no one interferes with your privacy, and you do not interfere with people“.