The state-run Iceland Forest Service has criticized the planned construction of apartments for a new neighborhood on Reynisvatnsás in Reykjavík suburb Grafarholt which would require cutting down 5,750 trees.
“It is a very beautiful young forest Reykjavík City planted 15 years ago,” Hallgrímur Indridason, a planner at the Forest Service, told Morgunbladid. The trees are between 2.5 and 3 meters high including pine trees, spruce trees and birch.
The Executive Committee of Reykjavík City Council has already accepted the urban planning proposal for that land for a total of 106 apartments and single family houses, and the City Council is expected to discuss the plans October 2. If accepted the lots will go up for sale a few days later.
The Iceland Forest Service has submitted an alternative urban planning proposal of how the new neighborhood could be constructed around the forest to spare the trees.
