Schaffhausen: City should buy monastery grounds
The city of Schaffhausen should buy the historic monastery area in the old town from the canton and develop it itself. The voters of the city have accepted the popular initiative of the AL.
The initiators of the popular initiative want to prevent the 8,100 square meter site from being sold to an investor. The city must now submit a purchase offer to the canton for the property, which currently houses the police, the prison, parts of the public prosecutor's office and the road traffic office. Because a new police and security center and a new building for the road traffic office are being built in Herblingertal, the Klosterviertel can be put to new use.
The city council had recommended the initiative for rejection because it is of the opinion that the city can also influence a future development without being the owner. The canton provides for an award competition for the development of the site, in which narrow guidelines are set for the development and the quality of the upgrading is evaluated in addition to the purchase price. In addition, the feasibility of the initiative is uncertain: the purchase can only succeed if the cantonal government and the cantonal council are willing to sell the monastery grounds at an attractive price.
Nevertheless, the initiative was approved by a difference of around 200 votes, with a turnout of 66 percent. (ah)
