Residents were particularly concerned about the residents in need of care who would be living there. They were not informed about anything. They alerted the municipality by letter.
Missed opportunity
Real estate owner Riemer van den Berg, who heard of the unrest, had already stopped the renovation on its own last month, when the municipality of Assen also started to interfere with the case after the report from the neighborhood. Van den Berg planned to inform the local residents through a walk-in meeting. “A missed opportunity on my part, I should have informed the neighbors about the plans sooner,” the property owner admits.
Chairman Jan Braaksma of neighborhood association Oranjestraat and surroundings says that the unrest mainly arose because no one knew exactly what was going to happen in the building. “It’s the way it goes. Suddenly there is a lot of renovation, we don’t know anything, we only hear through rumors that certain care clients come. That is not usual.”
Jewish family Godschalk
The building used to house the brush factory of the Jewish Godschalk family. At the top of the building there would be four living places for ex-addicts of the care organization Compound, downstairs there will be daytime activities. There, second-hand furniture is refurbished by clients of the Compound.
Van den Berg wants to completely restore the former brush factory to its former glory, with the name Godschalk returning on the facade. There will also be an information board about the Asser Jewish family on the wall. Hertog Godschalk, his wife Roselie Cohen and son Jacob were murdered in Auschwitz in 1943.
(story continues below image)
Home store with home
When Van den Berg bought the property last year, it contained a second-hand furniture store with a living area on the top floor. Before that it was a fitness center for a long time. The property owner was in the process of splitting the upstairs space for four residents of the Compound, who would use a communal kitchen and washroom facilities. He thought he did not need a permit for this, because there was a residential destination on it.
But according to the municipality, which investigated the matter at the location, this residential function is simply not allowed. “The property is subject to the ‘Management Ordinance Assen Binnenstad’, which means that residential situations without an environmental permit are not allowed. An inspection showed that the new owner was busy converting the property into a care location with four residential units without a permit,” said the municipal spokesperson. Arjan van de Leur. “And that residential function is simply not possible.”
Legalization
The municipality is now talking to the property owner to see if the situation can still be legalized. The opinion of local residents is also taken into account. “But it has been indicated to the owner that the building cannot be used as a residential care function for the time being,” says Van de Leur.
Owner Van den Berg does not fully agree with the vision of the municipality. According to him, the building has been a residential destination since 1960 according to the zoning plan. “The fact that a different regulation has suddenly been added from 2014 does not mean that that residential destination has been discontinued. In recent years, a second-hand furniture store has been located here, with living space above it. That was allowed by the municipality.” In any case, he will talk to the municipality.
Places to live insecure
Van den Berg cannot say whether four clients of care organization De Compound will still live at 9 Julianstraat. “I first look at what is possible. It could also just be that there will be two separate residential apartments. That completely depends on what comes out of the consultation.”
Compound director Ronnie Damhuis regrets the whole state of affairs surrounding the four residential areas. His organization desperately needs the shelters for clients. “These are people who are not in a 24-hour care process. They only need a bit of guidance every now and then when they live, and we take care of that. There is also a residential location in Oosterhoutstraat for five people. There was also unrest there at first. in the neighbourhood. But after a year everything is peaceful and you don’t hear about it anymore.”