The Emmermeer neighborhood association is pleased with all the renovations to the existing housing stock and new construction plans that are in the pipeline. Tonight, an information meeting was held in De Meerstede community center about the first major project: a residential care complex with 66 apartments along Valtherlaan.
The initiative comes from the care organization Cosis. People with intellectual disabilities, currently accommodated in locations in Klazienaveen, the Rietlanden and Angelslo, will be given a new home in Emmermeer.
There was initially no storm during the information meeting. Nevertheless, people regularly trickled in to get an impression of the plan. A woman fears that her view will soon be ruined. She also expects inconvenience. “I don’t feel good about it.” Maybe you should move, her friend suggests.
Others are more positive. A local resident thinks it is nice that this target group is given a nice place in society. Another praises the spacious layout and therefore does not expect the building to deprive her too much of its currently unobstructed view.
The lion’s share of the Emmermeer neighborhood association also comes to take a look. Chairman Geert Wubs and vice-chairman Herman van der Kamp see this project and the many that are still in the pipeline as a welcome and necessary intervention. Because a lot is about to happen.
In addition to the Cosis building, approximately 150 homes are being renovated or built in the vicinity of the Valtherlaan. A residential courtyard (knarrenhof) is being built on the site of the demolished Meerstadflats. Two of the five old Nicolaïflats are also waiting for replacement new construction. “We are in an environment where the years are visibly starting to count.”
Residents who live in houses forty years and older: it’s actually not possible, that’s the general feeling tonight. “In some houses you don’t need air conditioning. The wind blows through that,” reports one of those present.
The more energy-efficient alternatives that will soon arise here and there are also a solution in the face of rising energy prices. It is therefore certainly not too early for the fallow land along the Valtherlaan and the Valtherbos to be filled in, says Van der Kamp. “With the current housing market, you would almost wish things would go even faster.”
A few more will be added to this enormous list of building initiatives in the future, according to alderman Jisse Otter, who is also present. Next year, work will be done on a housing vision for the district.
Other district parts are being scrutinized with, among others, the housing associations. “And also looked at the environment between the Varenkamp and the Warmeerstraat and the part on the southeast side of the shopping center (towards J. Panstraat)”, according to the alderman. “We still have a lot of work ahead of us in that regard.”