City grants permit Roger Federer may build boathouse in Rapperswil

Roger Federer is allowed to build his boathouse in Rapperswil-Jona. The authorities have rejected the last objections.

The city of Rapperswil-Jona has granted permission for the construction of a new boathouse with a jetty on Roger Federer's property. The pending objections were rejected by the city council and the relevant cantonal authorities.

The application was examined and approved by the relevant cantonal authorities, the town of Rapperswil-Jona wrote in a press release on Wednesday. "At its last meeting, the city council was therefore able to grant permission for the dismantling of the existing boathouse and the construction of a new boathouse."

The decision is not legally binding. Opponents have 14 days to lodge an appeal against this decision with the Building and Environment Department of the Canton of St. Gallen. The planned project for the construction of a new boathouse triggered a total of four proceedings.

In 2019, it became known that Roger Federer had purchased a plot of land measuring almost 17,000 square meters in Kempratner Bucht in Rapperswil-Jona. Six buildings are now under construction on the site directly on Lake Zurich. Several objections, old development plans, a dispute over the lakeshore path and the pandemic postponed construction several times.

One of the objectors to the boathouse was the Rives Publiques association. It fights for free access to the lake shores and watercourses.