The Supreme Administrative Court has today published two decisions, stating that it will not take into consideration complaints against the City of Helsinki’s zoning plan proposals. The Supreme Administrative Court does not justify its decisions (attachment, in Finnish).
The Friends of Malmi Airport Association (FoMA) filed complaints against the zoning plan decisions because the natural values of the area had not been studied sufficiently. Today’s decisions are the opposite of the decisions made about the zoning plan of the Östersundom area, where the effects of the plan on nature values were required to be studied in advance. The City of Helsinki aims to use the RKY areas (Built Cultural Environments of National Significance) in the southern part of Malmi Airport for housing construction. Complaints are likely to be made against the future building permit applications in the area, so that the resuming flight operations will remain a possibility.
Most of the airport area is still marked as an airport in the zoning plan. The city promotes its housing construction plans regardless of the changed housing needs and the public opinion. There are several legal processes going on in the area. For example, according to current information, the processing of the Malmi Airfield Association’s land lease agreement will begin in the Court of Appeal in April 2023, unless it is postponed. Until then, the area is de facto leased to the Airfield Association.
In Finland, the Supreme Administrative Court does not justify its decisions, which goes against the general sense of justice. Regarding the complaints against the general plan, the Supreme Court rejected the complaints about Malmi Airport, contrary to the rapporteur’s proposal. The reasons for the decision were not given even to the parties involved, so the matter has been taken to the European Court of Human Rights in 2019. If the ECHR makes a decision on the matter, it may significantly affect the judicial system in Finland.
An annulment of the decision of the Supreme Administrative Court can be applied for within five years.
Decisions of the Supreme Administrative Court (in Finnish):