Bern City Council Empowered to Streamline Land Use Planning Process

In order to speed up the planning process in the city of Bern, the city council will now decide on changes to land use planning (building regulations, zoning plans, development plans) instead of the mandatory vote of the electorate. The optional referendum remains reserved.

The municipal council has adopted a corresponding partial revision of the municipal regulations and building regulations for public consultation. This will last from July 6 to October 6, 2023.

In recent years, urban development in the city of Bern has gained significant momentum. However, practically all changes to land use planning in the city of Bern must be submitted to the voting population for a decision, including purely technical or uncontested adjustments.

This leads to time-consuming and costly planning processes, reduces the attractiveness of the location, and hinders internal settlement development and the implementation of the housing strategy. In order to better meet the dynamics of urban development, the city council should now be able to decide on changes to land use planning (building regulations, zoning plans, development orders).

In addition, adjustments that are necessary due to overarching laws would no longer have to be submitted to the voting population. Today, Bern is the only larger Swiss city where voters are obliged to vote on changes to the basic building regulations.

In all comparable cities, this responsibility lies with the parliaments; partly definitively and partly subject to the optional referendum. A corresponding adjustment of responsibilities in land use planning should now also be implemented in the city of Bern.

In addition to speeding up planning, costs can also be reduced – both for property owners and for the city. A look at the referendums on changes to land use planning in the last 20 years shows that, with the exception of the first Viererfeld referendum in 2004, they always resulted in the same way as the votes in the city council.

Since then, voters have accepted all 44 changes to land use planning, consistently following the decisions of the city council. In the future, changes to land use planning can still be put to the voters: On the one hand, the optional referendum applies: 1,500 eligible voters can demand that a popular vote be held on a proposal decided by the city council.

On the other hand, the city council can also submit planning matters falling within its competence to the people with 50 percent of the votes. This will enable the parliament to continue to send proposals that are of great interest or politically controversial to popular vote.

It is also conceivable that in such.

(Quelle:Stadt Bern Bearbeitet mit ChatGPT)

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Bern Bern City Council Empowered Streamline Use Planning Process

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