Planning and building

In addition to the above, there may be several different circumstances in which there is reason to cooperate with the Environmental Board in the preparation of the plan and to ask for approval of the plan. In such cases, the request for cooperation and coordination must be substantiated (e.g. what environmental problems and issues need to be addressed).

Approval of the plan by the Environmental Board in nature conservation circumstances is justified, for example, if:

• The planning area does not cover a protected area, a limited-conservation area, a species’ protection site or a protected zone of an individual protected natural object, but it may have a significant impact on the environmental conditions of these areas.
• The plan proposes activities in the habitat of the protected species of the protected category I or if the activity planned to be carried out near the habitat may affect the environmental conditions of the place of finding or cause extra disturbances.
• The plan proposes activities in the habitat of the protected species of the protected category II, and it may not be possible to preserve the specimens of the protected species upon implementation of the planning solution (incl. the activities planned may lead to the need for relocation of the species) or it may have a significant impact on the environmental conditions of the place of finding.
• The target of the plan is to reduce the building exclusion zone.

Plans related to places of finding of the protected category III should be submitted to the Environmental Board for a request for a position only in more complex cases. In most cases, the person preparing the plan should ensure that the plan complies with the requirements for protection of species.

Approval of the plan by the Environmental Board may also be justified in other cases, including environmental protection circumstances.

Spatial planning is closely related to strategic assessment of the environmental impact and assessment of Natura.

Building work

The general principles of construction activities are established in the Building Code, including the procedures that have to be followed prior to the construction of certain buildings. In addition to the Building Code, it must be taken into account that when building in protected areas, as a rule, the issuer of the building documents needs to ask for the approval of the manager of the area.

Information about the location of the land in the protected area or in the place of finding of the protected species can be obtained from the Land Board’s map application of the nature conservation and Natura 2000 sites (NB! public application does not display the places of finding of strictly protected species), on the Environmental Portal. Information on the extent of the restrictions can be found in the Nature Conservation Act and in the protection rules of specific protected areas.

Pursuant to § 14 (1) of the Nature Conservation Act, without the express consent of the manager of a protected natural object, i.e. predominantly the Environmental Board, the following is prohibited within a protected area, limited-conservation area, species protection site or protective zone of an individual protected natural object:

• To grant consent for the construction of a construction works whereby a building notice is required or for the construction of a construction work whereby a building permit is required, including for the construction or expansion of a boat landing
• To issue design criteria
• To issue building permits
• To create a new body of water the area of which is larger than 5 m2 if a water permit or a building permit does not need to be issued therefor or a building notice does not need to be submitted therefor.

The Environmental Board gives its consent to the granting of building documents if the planned construction activities and subsequent use of the construction work do not interfere with achieving the objective of protecting the natural object or damage the condition of the protected natural object. The Environmental Board will also impose additional conditions on the construction, if necessary.

Building documents are submitted to the Environmental Board for consent primarily via the register of construction works.

In addition to the above, there may be different circumstances in which it may be reasonable or necessary to cooperate with the Environmental Board or submit draft documents for approval when providing building documents. Such circumstances include, for example, construction activities in or near places of finding of strictly protected species. An opinion, in which case submitting building documents to the Environmental Board for approval is mandatory or reasonable, can be found in the letter to Saaremaa Rural Municipality Government.

A special type of construction activity is building of land improvement systems on the basis of the Land Improvement Act. In order to issue the design specifications for land improvement systems and building permit, consent of the manager of the protected natural object must also be obtained, but the building permit must be approved with the Environmental Board also if it concerns a water body belonging to the list of spawning areas or habitats of salmon, brown trout, salmon trout or grayling, pursuant to § 51 (2) of the Nature Conservation Act, or renewal design documentation is prepared for removing sediment from the artificial recipient that coincides with the above-mentioned rivers.

In certain cases, environmental impact assessment, including assessment of Natura, must be carried out when issuing building documents.