This time it is a nature conservation initiative: Zurich has to vote for the third time on the construction of a new stadium

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The people of Zurich have voted twice in recent years for a new football stadium on the Hardturm site. The project was accepted both times. Most recently in September 2020 with about 60 percent yes votes.

A new hard tower is not yet in sight. And it now even looks as if the population will once again decide on construction. Now a conservation initiative is endangering the stadium project. That reports the “NZZ”.

Ensemble houses in the sights of the initiators?

The so-called banking initiative collected the necessary 3000 valid signatures this spring. At first glance, the request has little to do with the stadium plans. The aim of the initiative is much more to prohibit the construction of high-rise buildings along the water – in Zurich in an approximately 200-metre-wide zone along the Limmat.

And so the initiative becomes a threat to the new hard tower. Because the two “ensemble” high-rises planned for the stadium are almost exactly 200 meters from the Limmat. If the banking initiative is accepted, the dream of a new stadium for Zurich’s football fans is likely to fall apart again. Because without the residential buildings, the stadium would not be financially viable.

Stadium opponents well represented in the committee

The initiators want nothing to do with an attack on the new stadium. Martin Zahnd, one of the proponents of the project, told the “NZZ”: “It’s not about the stadium, it’s about environmental protection in general and especially about the high-rise building guidelines that the city recently adopted.”

But one thing is also clear: apart from the two houses next to the Hardturm Stadium, no construction is currently planned that would be affected by the guidelines of the banking initiative. Also suspicious: the committee of the banking initiative contains a striking number of politicians who have made a name for themselves in recent years as opponents of the stadium. It is therefore quite conceivable that a third round of voting will soon be decided on a new stadium in Zurich. (cat)

Source : Blick