The municipality of Emmen is launching a plan for the construction of more than a hundred homes in the center. The intended construction site is the parking lot at the Karbeel, also known as the former location of the De Dissel school.
There has been talk of building at this location for years. In 2020, the municipality, housing association Lefier and project developer Peter van Dijk agreed on the main points. That plan was based on the construction of almost 120 homes with a bit of everything: apartments, different types of ground-level houses and maisonettes.
There has been no further progress so far and that has everything to do with the so-called Didam judgment of 2021. Since this judgment – a ruling by the Supreme Court – Dutch municipalities are no longer allowed to simply sell one-on-one plots of land to project developers. These must be made public. This will now also happen to the former De Dissel site in the Emmer center.
‘Very disappointed’
The municipality will acquire the sketch design for this location commissioned by Peter van Dijk from the Emmer developer for more than €100,000. This design will be used by the municipality in further planning. By taking over the document, the municipality also wants to prevent arguments about plagiarism and copyright from arising later.
Peter van Dijk is very disappointed. “If the municipality and I had reached an agreement earlier on the value of the land, the project would have been ready long ago, before the much-discussed Didam ruling. That agreement never came because the officials concerned asked for far too high a land price. As a result, the sales prices we asked for in combination with the current construction costs became unacceptably high.”
‘Competitive’
Van Dijk says that he did not want to compromise the appearance and quality. “Very unfortunate, especially for Emmen. Apparently obtaining very high land prices is more important than a high-quality project for a broad target group in the center. And that was the municipality’s starting point from the start.” According to Van Dijk, Lefier can continue with her part of the plan. “A project that was part of the overall plan that I had developed. This was tapped before the Didam ruling.”
A spokesperson for the municipality said in a response that the land prices for the plot in question are not extra high. “They are based on our land price policy memorandum and that is a memorandum that we must adhere to. These prices are in line with the market and have also been valued by an independent party.”