SVP local councils are calling for e-charging stations for the cooking area
Zurich
Overbuilding Koch-Areal: SVP local councils want e-charging stations in the parking lots
So far, the SVP has resisted the planned Koch district between Altstetten and Albisrieden. Now she wants to get involved in the planning.
In 2025, the new cooking quarters in Zurich should be ready. Three residential buildings with a total of 325 cooperative apartments, a commercial building and a district park are planned on the border between Altstetten and Albisrieden on the now infamous Koch area. A total of 94 parking spaces are planned in the planned quarter. In a postulate, two SVP municipal councils are now calling on the city to examine how part of it can be equipped with electric charging stations.
Local councilors Samuel Balsiger and Derek Richter justify their proposal that e-cars are extremely popular. YOU are based on the current ranking of the best-selling cars in Switzerland. In 2021, they led the way for the first time with an electric vehicle – the Model 3 from Tesla. Despite the popularity of e-cars, “the city council has so far refused to meet the needs of the population and to equip numerous parking spaces with electric charging stations,” the two politicians continue.
The city council has been advised several times to provide the appropriate infrastructure for electric vehicles, says Balsiger on request. “But he just doesn’t move forward.” Now we have started to get involved only in concrete projects.
The reserves should fix it
In the case of the prospective Koch district, the local councilors do not want to give the city council any specifications as to the number of electric charging stations.
“The city council should assess for itself what makes sense”,
explains Balsiger. He adds: “But it’s also certain that we don’t want any electric charging stations in stock.” According to Balsiger, the charging stations should be financed with the reserves included in the construction costs.
The cooperatives Kraftwerk 1 and Allgemeine Baugenossenschaft Zürich (ABZ) as well as the real estate developer Senn are responsible for the construction of the buildings in the new Koch district. According to the project documentation from April 2021, parking spaces are only provided in the ABZ and Senn buildings – it is not noted whether they are already equipped with charging stations. ABZ basically follows the so-called “electromobility” concept in all of its settlements, says a spokesman on request. The spokesman did not want to say whether this would also apply in the new Koch district, as the matter is currently with the city council. However, it is possible. The real estate developer Senn also refers to the city for further information.
«The SVP can improve the project»
In the past, the SVP had always spoken out against the concept of the cooking quarters. Above all, she found the planned cooperative housing and the project costs shocking. Ultimately, the left-green majority in the municipal council approved the planning principles in December. The SVP accepted this decision and decided not to hold a referendum. “In terms of policy,” Balsiger explains, they are prepared to participate in the project, despite their defensiveness. Because people need the infrastructure for electric vehicles. He says: “The SVP can improve the project.”
In the municipal council, the push by Balsiger and Richter should have good chances of success far into the left-liberal camp. The SVP municipal councils are also hoping for support from the left. That’s why the advance was deliberately cautious, according to Balsiger. “We’re not saying no to the project, we’re working to ensure that certain aspects are objectively examined.”
The people of Zurich will vote on the park on May 15th
Where today is the city’s largest squat, a circus district and a brightly sprayed small restaurant, one day a lively district with apartments for around 900 people is to be created. 325 cooperative apartments are planned, spread over three buildings owned by the ABZ and Kraftwerk 1 cooperatives, including an 85-metre high-rise building owned by ABZ. The two cooperatives are planning investments of around CHF 80 million each. There is also a commercial building belonging to the real estate company Senn with 10,000 to 15,000 square meters of floor space. Senn expects costs of 55 million francs.
In addition, the city of Zurich wants to create a district park of 12,000 square meters for almost 16 million Swiss francs. A listed open coal hall is to be integrated into it as a free space for the population. At times, however, it will also be used by the Circus Chnopf, which will remain on the site.
The park and the necessary accounting land transfer cost the city just over 20 million francs. The voters in the city of Zurich will decide in the referendum on May 15 whether they can spend this money. If everything goes according to plan, construction will start in 2023. The first tenants could then probably move in in 2025.
The city buys the area from UBS
The 30,000 square meter Koch area has belonged to the City of Zurich since 2013, which bought it from UBS for CHF 70 million. With the purchase, they wanted to help achieve the one-third target set in the municipal code (by 2050, one-third of all apartments in the city of Zurich must be non-profit). Squatters have been staying on the site since the same year. The city had tolerated the occupation for almost ten years.
The city has been working on the planning of the new cooking district since 2017. An important milestone was reached in 2018 when the Zurich voters approved the proposal for “non-profit housing on the Koch-Areal”. This cleared the way for the further implementation of the project. At that time, the people wrote off an initiative by the FDP, which wanted to sell the area to private individuals.