Zoning freeze in the canton of Zurich

Anyone who wants to zone land for development in the canton of Zurich needs a lot of patience. Because the value-added tax has still not been implemented, the building director has ordered a ban on zoning, which is also slowing down major projects.

On Sunday, we will be voting on the Young Greens’ urban sprawl initiative. Their central demand was that no more land should be zoned – i.e. that agricultural land should not be turned into building land, for example – and Zurich’s Director of Building Markus Kägi (svp.) has now fulfilled this demand at an early stage. However, he doesn’t do it entirely voluntarily and only for a limited time. In a letter to the municipalities and the regional planning associations, he issues a ban on zoning, as provided for under federal law. 

Deadline expires at the end of April

The cantons have five years to implement the value-added tax provided for in the revised Federal Spatial Planning Act. If this is not done within the deadline, no more building zones may be designated in the cantons concerned. This is stated in the transitional provisions of the Spatial Planning Act, the revision of which was approved by 63 percent of voters across Switzerland in 2013. Zurich took its time with the implementation – too much time, as is now becoming clear. The government only presented its proposal at the beginning of 2018, and the Cantonal Council’s Planning and Construction Committee has been at work since last March. However, the deadline for the regulation of value-added compensation now expires at the end of April. It is already clear today that the zoning ban will come into force on 1 January. May can no longer be prevented, according to the building director’s letter. The consultations in the commission are “extremely time-consuming and demanding”. The new Value Added Compensation Act could no longer come into force in time. The zoning ban applies until the new law comes into force.

It had been expected that zoning would be halted. Nevertheless, towns and municipalities are now surprised by Kägi’s letter – firstly because it comes so early, and secondly because the zoning freeze will in principle take effect immediately. From 1. From May onwards, zoning can no longer be approved. However, because the upstream approval procedure also takes time, it is foreseeable that “planning documents that are submitted for approval from now on will also be affected”. And even worse: even plans that are already in the approval process could be refused approval for the time being. After all, the municipalities would be informed directly by the Office for Spatial Development in such a case.

The announced stop only concerns individual zoning; rezoning and upzoning are not affected. The conversion of agricultural land into building land is therefore prohibited. However, the conversion of a commercial zone into a zone for public buildings or the upzoning of a residential zone W2 into a residential zone W3 are permitted, for example. It is still difficult to estimate the specific projects that will be affected by the zoning decision. However, development areas in Bülach, for example, will be affected, as town mayor Mark Eberli (evp.) said on request. It was annoying that the government council had sent its proposal on its political journey so late. If the Cantonal Council does not now succeed in quickly drawing up a bill that is acceptable to a majority and also to the cities, there is even the threat of a referendum, and the zoning freeze could hinder development for years – which would be very damaging for Zurich as a business location.

University area affected?

It cannot be ruled out that even the development of the Zurich university area could be delayed. After an initial examination, this is certainly possible, says Urs Spinner, Department Secretary of the City of Zurich Building Department, on request. The area is currently a blank spot in the zoning plan; however, in addition to the cantonal design plans, it needs an urban land use plan. The municipal council is in the process of creating these, but could now be stopped. The cantonal building department does not yet know definitively whether this is the case. The question is “still to be clarified”, says Markus Pfanner from the media office. The canton of Zurich already had a zoning freeze in place from 2012 to 2017. Projects in Adliswil (Dietlimoos-Moos) and Uster (Eschenbüel), for example, were delayed. Projects of this magnitude, which are being blocked this time, are not known to the building department, says Pfanner.

The city of Zurich sees things differently, as Urs Spinner says. For example, the huge residential development on Thurgauerstrasse could be affected, where conversions from the free zone to zones for public buildings and residential zones are required. There may also be delays in the planning for the Oerlikon sports center, the Irchel campus or the ETH campus on the Hönggerberg. Spinner also finds it annoying that the matter has been delayed for so long. The government council’s proposal not only came too late, but was also too complicated. It was an indictment that Zurich was unable to bring such a law into force in time.

Of course, it sounds different from the Cantonal Council committee. Josef Wiederkehr (cvp.), for example, believes that a rush job on this important issue would be wrong. In any case, he sees a certain hope that a broad-based solution can be found for the new law.

Adi Kälin, text from the NZZ e-paper of 09.02.2019