The amount that Solidiam wants to pay to residents started with 22,500 euros per household, but has now been increased to 30,000 euros per household, according to sources. For this amount, residents would have to withdraw their objections that have been lodged. According to a number of insiders, one of the agreements is that there will be no talk to the media.
According to Solidiam director Ronald Egger, there is no ‘unanimity requirement’ that everyone in the village must participate in the commutation scheme and withdraw their objection. Several villagers say in a reaction that this requirement was indeed there in the beginning.
A number of households are said to have accepted the money in the meantime. About two or three households do not do this and continue with the objection procedure. “You play a village against each other,” concludes resident Vos disapprovingly. “The village is just being sold.”
“The zoning plan allows the plans for the distribution center,” explains alderman René van der Weide (Wakker Emmen). There may be one large building of 14 meters high. In fact, it can even reach 18 meters high, according to Van der Weide.
Villagers who push through their objections fight that. If you read the explanation of the zoning plan, according to the residents, it says that a plot size of ‘approximately 2 hectares’ per company may be built there. What Solidiam wants to build is 10 hectares, about the size of twelve football fields.
“For the residents, and therefore also for me, this will be a wall of almost 400 meters long and 14 meters high at a distance of 80 meters. This building is neither in accordance with the letter nor in the spirit of the Management Regulations. I could never have suspect that such a building would be built in front of my house,” one of the objectors writes to the municipality.
In addition, a common cry in the village is: ‘This company does not fit there’. Oranjedorp is almost completely enclosed by industry and companies on the west side.
The question is therefore: is the sale to Solidiam an official accident or a conscious choice by the Municipal Executive? The piece of land lay fallow for nineteen years and the sale is not unfavorable for Emmen’s household book. The municipality will receive more than 5 million euros for the land.
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