Zoning

In a high-stakes court session, Greece's Council of State reviewed arguments on Friday regarding the constitutionality of building height and zoning bonuses under the New Building Regulation.

The citizens' response to the new app that allows them to report zoning and environmental violations on beaches shows us how useful this kind of service can be.

Such tools cultivate the belief that the public is being heard when it cries out for mechanisms to protect the environment and uphold the law.

For the past five years, government officials have exhausted their active interest in tourism with triumphant proclamations about successive new arrival records. As they crowed, the problems from unfettered construction, the mass invasion of cruise visitors, the shortage of water and other resources, inadequate waste management and weak energy networks just grew and grew.

Türkiye's Constitutional Court has struck down a key provision of the controversial "zoning amnesty" law, which allowed the legalization of illegally constructed buildings.

Authorities received over 1,000 citizens' complaints about zoning violations on beaches within five days, it was reported on Monday.

The complaints were filed by citizens through telephone and the MyCoast app.

Authorities conducted inspections of 14 beaches across the country that received most of the complaints and found multiple violations, resulting in fines.

Tourism is the absolute dominator in Greece's zoning plans, with hardly any restrictions imposed, as seen in the text of the new Special Zoning Plan for Tourism put up for public consultation on Wednesday.

The new zoning of tourism in Greece divides the territory into five categories based on the degree of tourist development. This plan includes restrictions on short-term rentals (Airbnb) and rooms for rent, addressing a long-standing request from the tourism industry.

Flisvos Marina, managed by LAMDA Development and with an 8.16 million euro upgrade plan, is among the investment projects that have received the green light under the Ministry of Tourism’s approval decisions for Recovery Fund projects involving the upgrading of tourist ports.

The municipal authority on the southeastern Aegean island of Rhodes has ordered the shutdown of a beach bar in the Santa Marina area by June 20 after inspections uncovered a multitude of zoning violations, including the fact that the business has been illegally built in an archaeological site.

The municipal authority on the southeastern Aegean island of Rhodes has ordered the shutdown of a beach bar in the Santa Marina area by June 20 after inspections uncovered a multitude of zoning violations, including the fact that the business has been illegally built in an archaeological site.