“The mayor must stop the work and renounce the lamination Avenues. The soil there has been classified since the 1930s.” Eric Georginpresident of the association of Avenues of Compiègnesays he is devastated by the work on theavenue of the Division-Leclerc. For several days, a company mandated by municipal services has been replacing the wooden blocks delimiting the parkingby plastic pads.
“It’s composite, recycled plastic,” explains the entrepreneur from Compiègne Paysages. A wood-colored material which, to the touch, even gives the impression of wood.
Which does not at all console Eric Georgin who wrote to the mayor of Compiègne Philippe Marini. “At a time when an international treaty against plastic pollution is under discussion, do not transform Avenue de la Division Leclerc! This green avenue has already lost two of its four rows of trees.” The president of this association, who lives in the neighborhood, deplores an “all plastic” transition to the forest.
“Some plots were in poor condition, others missing,” recalls the mayor
“Some were in poor condition, others missing,” indicates the mayor’s office. We carried out their renewal to standardize the avenue.” That is 288 plots for a cost of nearly €130,000 including tax.
While the company continues to plant these 288 blocks half a meter high, Mayor Philippe Marini, referring to an unfortunate initiative concerning the choice of material, has already indicated that the city would replace them “with wooden or metal blocks. Like what existed before regarding wooden blocks, and what still exists regarding metal blocks connected by chains. These date back to Charles X.
Influx of cars during events
These blocks prevent illegal parking on the grassy plots, which follow one another along the houses on the avenue. Residents complain about the influx of cars. Influxes for example at the fireworks on July 14, at the Fire Masters, at the Paris-Roubaix cycle race…
Eric Georgin says he learned about these ongoing developments from a local resident. “With four exceptions, residents are dismayed by these poorly designed and expensive developments,” he says. Avenue de la Division-Leclerc has a dozen homes and the offices of the National Forestry Office. President Georgin deplores that the services took into account the considerations of “four misguided residents”.
“Classified as a Historic Monument, like all the others, since the 1930s, it should therefore, at least in theory, benefit from protection,” he continues. The avenues of Compiègne date back to the reign of Louis XV. He had asked his architect Ange-Jacques Gabriel to trace and plant large avenues from the castle, “to allow a smooth transition from the city to the forest”.
“On this driveway, a wild parking area as far as the eye can see”
The president remembers the “original trauma” generated by the felling of two of the four avenues of trees. This “Belle Allée” has become “a wild parking zone as far as the eye can see,” he notes.
This is precisely what these plots aim to limit. “Yes, but we release large sums without thinking about an overall project,” he believes. And these plastic blocks are definitely not a good idea, because they distort this avenue. The city could simply limit parking or regulate it.” Eric Georgin recalls, at each end of Avenue de la Division-Leclerc, the development of parking lots for private use on public property. Considering them “little used”.
Eric Georgin cites, as a model for consultation, the rehabilitation of Avenue de la Résistance. “Several administrators of the Avenues de Compiègne association had worked with the technical services of the Town Hall to limit illegal parking,” he recalls. We had obtained wooden blocks to limit the parking of visitors’ and local residents’ vehicles.”
