Kalo Chorio community leader asks Lasithi Bar Association to resolve beach ownership dispute blocking cleanup
The president of the Municipal Community of Kalo Chorio, Kostas Tzagkournis, has sent an open letter to the Lasithi Bar Association asking it to intervene in a long-running dispute over who holds legal responsibility for cleaning the Agios Panteleimonas beach in Kalo Chorio, which remains covered with debris and waste carried down by streams following the recent storm.
Tzagkournis said he was not asking for “another round of administrative correspondence” but for an institutional intervention, noting that despite official documents and evidence already submitted to the relevant authorities, no substantive response or specific administrative action has followed.
According to Tzagkournis, he had already raised the issue in a document dated 6 April 2025 sent to the Municipality of Agios Nikolaos, the Public Property and Transparency Agency (DAEAN), the Lasithi Real Estate Service, and the municipality’s legal department. In that letter he asked for a legal opinion on the status of the beach, citing Royal Decree 739/1971, Government Gazette 306/D/2012, and a 2008 opinion (No. 323) by the Legal Council of State. He also asked that the possibility of the municipality managing the beach, and submitting it to the Real Estate Service and the Hellenic Public Properties Company (ETAD), be examined. He said no substantive answer or concrete action has been communicated to date.
Tzagkournis said the need to resolve the issue has become more urgent following the recent severe storm. He said that, based on the situation observed so far, tens and possibly hundreds of tons of debris and waste have accumulated on the beach, turning it from an aesthetic or tourism concern into a matter of immediate public health and safety, since parts of the beach have become hard to access and potentially dangerous for residents and visitors, while the uncollected waste also raises environmental pollution concerns.
Competing ownership claims
Citing specific official documents, Tzagkournis pointed to decision 234/2013 of the committee handling coastal zone disputes (ΔΕΑΑ), which concerns a 46,942-square-metre area at “Akti Kalou Choriou Agiou Nikolaou” and explicitly excludes from transfer the zone between the shoreline boundary and the beach boundary line. Separately, Royal Decree 739/1971 concerns a different, roughly 20,945-square-metre area with its own topographical references.
He said the question is specific and requires an official answer: which exact part of today’s Agios Panteleimonas beach falls under which title, entity, and authority; which section is public shoreline and beach today; which section corresponds to the 1971 decree; which section falls within the 46,942-square-metre area from the 2013 decision; which section was explicitly excluded from transfer; and which authority currently holds legal responsibility for managing, cleaning, restoring and granting use of the beach.
What the community is requesting
Tzagkournis said he is not asking the Bar Association to adopt his own view but to help bring the matter to the level of formal institutional and legal review. Specifically, he asked the Bar Association to examine the issue and the submitted documents; to request that the Municipality of Agios Nikolaos and the Lasithi Real Estate Service respond in writing; and to take the institutional initiative needed for the competent administrative body to submit a formal query to the Legal Council of State. If that route is not institutionally feasible, he asked that an independent legal opinion be prepared by qualified legal and technical experts.
He added that the situation at the beach has now taken on an urgent character, since the recent storm has shown in practice the consequences of the prolonged failure to clarify responsibility, with a large volume of debris and waste requiring immediate removal and safe restoration of the site. The dispute over the Kalo Chorio beach follows a wider pattern this autumn in which storm damage across Lasithi has left local authorities and residents dealing with extensive cleanup needs, including beaches covered in mud in nearby Ierapetra.
Tzagkournis said local residents are not asking for preferential treatment but simply want to know who has the right and obligation to decide and act regarding their beach, and on what legal basis. He said the issue reflects broader questions about the management of beaches in Crete where ownership and jurisdiction remain unclear. He concluded by asking the Lasithi Bar Association to help produce a clear, documented and legally usable response, and to clarify without further delay which authority is responsible for the actions needed to secure and restore the beach.
