SEA rejected Irací Hassler’s claim for Metro Line 7 but municipality of Santiago clarifies that a second appeal is still in process

After the Environmental Assessment Service (SEA) declared inadmissible an appeal to redefine the route of line 7 of the subway so as not to affect the Forest Park, the Municipality of Santiago came out to clarify that another claim is still in process.
Through a statement, the Legal Department of the municipality clarified that there were two claims filed and that one of them, sponsored by the municipality on behalf of the residents of the commune, continues its course.
“Two complaints were filed regarding the process of evaluating the environmental impact statement. One of them representing the municipality and another representing the neighbors, according to what the mayor arranged.  In reference to the one presented by the municipality, it was declared inadmissible, but because it is established that the role of the Municipality is within the evaluation process with respect to the observations that were formulated in a timely manner, “explained Jean Pierre Chiffelle, legal director of the municipality of Santiago.
The official added that “on the action of the neighbors, being of communal interest, the mayor arranged the representation of a lawyer regarding this claim, which was accepted and continues its processing in its concern for the protection of urban trees. We are also concerned about the vibrations of the process and the noise that the constructions that are going to be developed may generate.”
It should be remembered that the Municipality of Santiago announced that it will seek to challenge the route of the new underground railway line, which will link Renca with Vitacura and which has an important section in the commune, in order to scrap the Forest Park and the communities that live in that environment.
In the opinion of the municipality, the route will affect the sector “given the historical heritage character of the neighborhood, the construction of the new Metro would affect both the flora and fauna, as well as groundwater and archaeological elements.”
However, the president of the board of Directors of Metro, Louis de Grange, refuted the criticism of the municipality and recalled that “Line 7 of the Metro, which starts at Renca, Cerro Navia and Quinta Normal, does not have access in the Forest Park”, since these were eliminated “more than a year ago” from the initial design.
In addition, De Grange stressed that the impact on the trees in the Forest Park will be minimal and only “eight young oriental bananas are affected”, which will be replaced with the planting of “19 native trees”.
Instead, he explained that the Line 7 project will benefit the environment with a CO2 reduction “similar to 55,000 trees” by reducing trips in private cars and public transport minibuses.

Original source in Spanish

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