The administrative court of the Canton of Zurich revokes the design plan for a residential development on the left bank of the lake. The basic order had been undermined with the plans.
The Ebnet area in Horgen, a meadow with standard fruit trees, has been the talk of the town for almost four years.
Despite its field name, the Ebnet property is a green slope with fruit trees. This is just outside of Horgen between the town center and the A3 with a magnificent view of Lake Zurich. A good place to live, as the single-family houses in the neighborhood show.
In the regional structure plan, the area is in an area for low building density, at the municipal level in the two-storey residential zone. The owners, a community of heirs, planned to build 70 apartments on the 17,500 square meter property.
In order to use the land as well as possible, they had a private design plan drawn up, which allows deviations from the standard construction method according to the basic regulations. In return for such an exception, an optimal development of an area in terms of urban development, architecture or landscape is required.
Much longer buildings than planned
In this case, the client went too far. The Zurich administrative court canceled the plan after complaints from residents, according to a recently published judgment. Reason: In particular, the planned building lengths would go beyond all the rules for the two-storey residential zone. Especially since it is a residential area in a scenically sensitive location.
In concrete terms, the design plan envisaged three- and sometimes also four-storey buildings. With one exception, the length of the planned buildings ranged between 29 and 52 meters. However, the regional structure plan provides for building lengths with a guide value of only 25 meters at this point. The verdict also states that the building heights clearly exceed the specifications.
How much a design plan may deviate from the standard construction method is not described in detail in the planning and building law. However, the deviations should not “empty the meaning of the basic order, which is based on planning and democracy”. However, that is precisely what the court considers to be the case in the present case.
It bases its argument not only on the planning documents, but also on the federal inventory of sites worthy of protection (Isos). The Ebnet area is listed there with a conservation objective. Based on a fundamental decision of the Federal Supreme Court on the Zurich municipality of Rüti from 2009, there is a need to weigh up interests; i.e. between the order newly created with the design plan and the requirement to take the town and landscape into account.
“Not the best development”
For the judges, the project deviates too much from the basic order in several points. The design plan does not bring about any improvement, so one cannot speak of an optimal superstructure, they write. The fact that the plan was approved by the same bodies that once decided on the Horgen building and zoning regulations does not change anything.
The administrative court is turning the verdict of the construction appeals court, which as the lower court had dismissed the complaints. After more than three and a half years, it annuls the resolution of the Horgen municipal assembly of December 13, 2018, which clearly approved the design plan, as well as the approval of the cantonal building department of September 2019.
The bill had already caused a stir before the meeting because the canton’s critical objections were missing from the documents sent to those entitled to vote. However, an appeal for voting rights was unsuccessful. The judgment can still be appealed before the federal court.
Judgment VB.2021.00038 of April 28, 2022, not final.