In addition, they say that the municipality should have made a decision much earlier. The judge has already tapped the municipality for this. Because of this long wait, they are now with a claim of 1.5 million euros. “Well, not, yes, not, how unreliable can you have it?”
Get to court
“We are happy that after more than 2 years of waiting we have finished this municipality and can finally go to court to correct this,” the couple sounds cynical. “We needed this definitive answer from the municipality for that.”
A second lawsuit to recover the damage sustained at the municipality is already running in the meantime.
‘Kers on the cake’
But where the owners cannot be pleased with the decision, the champagne is uncorked at Albertus Perk. “This is the icing on the cake,” responds chairman Willem van der Spek. Together with Heritage Association Heemschut and the Cuypers Society, they have argued for giving a monumental status to the building.
“We have done our best for two years. It is a beautiful building by such a special architect.” The three heritage protectors feared that the building was ‘threatened by demolition hammers’ and that it would be demolished. So they rang the bell at the municipality of Hilversum.
No conversation
In the past two years, however, there has been no conversation between the owners and the heritage associations to smooth out the folds. According to Hogenelst, they tried that, but the other party kept the boat off. Van der Spek acknowledges that such a kind of conversation has not been there. “We considered it, but everyone assumed that they were indeed planning to demolish.”
Municipality does not want to say much
NH has also asked the municipality of Hilversum, but they don’t want to say much about it at the moment. “At present, the stakeholders (owners and objectioners) are informed by the municipality about the decision that the college was taken on Tuesday and they are expected to receive the official documents at the latest next week,” a spokesperson said.