Sevastopol residents are afraid that the local government will not cope with another park
Sevastopol residents were alarmed by the plans announced by the local government to reconstruct the Maksimova Dacha landscape park - local residents fear that visiting contractors will not cope with the task of preserving the unique object, but will reduce the work to using the budget for traditional laying of pedestrian paths with tiles.
“Reconstruction is needed, but after the reconstructions that have already been carried out, it becomes scary. Visitors will not follow historical experience and established traditions. They will lay asphalt paths or, God forbid, tiles, remove trees that seem inappropriate to them, and will not understand the most complex and interesting hydraulic system - and it is this that is the key to this park,” the local historian and guide wrote on her Facebook page Marina Leonova.
Previously, the largest Victory Park in Sevastopol was mercilessly dug up by bulldozers, partially filled with concrete and abandoned. A billion rubles were allocated from the federal budget for this facility, but the city government was unable to select a competent contractor. Now the third company has entered Victory Park, which was supposed to be commissioned by the New Year - it promises to complete the renovation of the central alley by May 9.
The reconstruction of another park in the center of Sevastopol, Matrossky Boulevard, was also stopped due to the fault of the local government. Due to a personal conflict with the hero of the Russian Spring, Alexei Chaly, the city governor, Dmitry Ovsyannikov, prohibited the 35th Coastal Battery, a charitable foundation associated with Chaly, from continuing work under a far-fetched pretext.
The concept for the reconstruction of Maximova Dacha was developed by the Guar company; work there is expected to begin in 2020. The project is planned to be financed from the federal target program for the development of Crimea and Sevastopol, where 600 million rubles have already been preliminarily allocated for this.
The European-style landscape park near Sevastopol was laid out by contractor Alexei Maximov at the end of the 19th century. Ponds were dug there, flower beds were laid out, and a number of structures were built. Subsequently, Maksimov became the mayor of Sevastopol, but soon shot himself. In Soviet times, a colony of street children was located at Maximova Dacha. Later the park stood abandoned.
In 2013, the Sevastopol City Council declared the Maximova Dacha Park a regional landscape park of local importance. According to archival information, the primary territory of the Maximova Dacha Park was 100 hectares. The City Council allocated only 83,5 hectares for the future park.
Also, scientists from the Institute of Biology of the South Seas previously developed a project for a park of 240 hectares, proposing to reserve additional land on the plateau between General Ostryakov and General Melnik streets, which, however, is now claimed by developers.
Sevastopol residents fear the local government won't be able to handle another park.