Grenchen SO must go over the books with the "Südhang" construction plan

The Federal Supreme Court overturned the Administrative Court's ruling of March 2022. The case will be referred back to the municipality as the planning authority for reasons of expediency, as stated in the Federal Supreme Court's ruling published on Wednesday.

According to the Lausanne judges, the municipality will have to determine and weigh up all public and private interests that speak for and against the land use planning.

The Federal Supreme Court's ruling is a rebuke to the Administrative Court and the Government Council. Both instances had rejected objections and appeals against the partial zoning, development and design plan.

The reduction in the distance from the forest is controversial

The "Südhang" area is located in the north of the town of Grenchen. Two pentagonal apartment buildings and a pentagonal residential pavilion are planned. According to the plan, the legal distance to the forest was to be reduced from 20 meters to 10 meters. The distances between the buildings were also disputed.

In its deliberations, the Federal Supreme Court criticized the fact that no comprehensive and legally sufficient weighing of interests had been carried out to date. A design plan with special building regulations may deviate from the general building regulations.

However, the deviations should not lead to the planning and democratically supported basic regulations being emptied of their meaning. Therefore, according to the ruling, the town of Grenchen must determine the extent to which the design plan deviates from the basic regulations. (Judgement 1C_205/2022 of 17.06.2024)