Changing the boundaries of a populated area by utilizing land from the forest fund requires coordination of the general plan with the Federal Forestry Agency (Rosleskhaz)
When forest areas located on forest fund lands are included within the boundaries of a populated area through the establishment and change of the boundary of the settlement project the general plan must be coordinated with the Federal Forestry Agency.
The society approached the court with a claim to declare invalid the general plan of the urban district in part providing for the placement of an object of local importance - an animal shelter on the land plot, in relation to which a servitude has been established, thereby violating its right to use the aforementioned land plot in accordance with the agreement on
establishment of a servitude
Requirement is motivated by the fact that the project of the general plan of the city district has not been coordinated in terms of the intersection of boundaries with forest fund lands.
Satisfying the stated requirements, the court relied on the following.
The project of the general plan of the city district was considered by Rosleskhoz and was not coordinated.
At the same time, based on the results of the meeting of the conciliation commission established by the city administration, a conclusion has been prepared, by which the general plan project has been coordinated. Regarding the comments of Rosleskhoz, the conciliation commission came to the conclusion that this issue should be considered unresolved.
However, in accordance with the provisions of paragraph 2 of part 1 Article 25 of the Land Code of the Russian Federation, part 1 of Article 8, Article 81 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, and paragraph 2 of Article 9 of the Forest Code of the Russian Federation, when including forest plots located on land of the forest fund into the boundaries of a settlement through the establishment or change of the settlement's boundary, the procedure for coordinating the general plan project with Rosleskhoz must be followed.
Norms of part 12 Article 25 of the Code of the Russian Federation on Municipal Service, granting the head of the municipal administration of a city district the right, based on documents and materials submitted by the conciliation commission, to make a decision to forward an unsanctioned portion of the general plan to the representative body of local self-government of the city district, cannot be considered as grounds for concluding that approval of the general plan is possible without coordination with Rosleskhoz in cases where such
Coordination is required due to the direct provision of the law.
Otherwise, this would imply the possibility of adopting the aforementioned territorial planning document without following the procedure provided by law, which would not only create legal uncertainty but also lay the groundwork for unlawful removal of the relevant land parcels from the composition of forest fund lands.
Source: Thematic Review of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation № 11/2026. On the consideration by courts of cases related to rights on land plots of certain categories of land excluded from circulation and restricted in circulation, and on the use of such plots