Federal Council decides to put a stop to land use in five cantons
The Federal Council has decided on a freeze on land zoning for the cantons of Geneva, Lucerne, Schwyz, Zug and Zurich. It will apply from May 1 of this year.
According to the Federal Council, the cantons of Geneva, Lucerne, Schwyz, Zug and Zurich had not introduced a value-added tax for the zoning of building land in time or had not fulfilled the requirements under federal law. Therefore, the zoning stop would be imposed.
The background to this is the revised Spatial Planning Act (RPG), which was approved by the electorate in 2013 with 62.9 percent in favor. According to this, the cantons must, among other things, compensate for added values from single-zoning with a minimum levy rate of 20%. There was a five-year deadline for implementation, which expires on April 30, 2019. Cantons that have not complied with their obligation will not be allowed to designate new building zones from May 1, 2019.
According to the Federal Council, the cantons of Geneva, Lucerne and Schwyz had introduced a value-added levy in good time. However, the regulation does not meet the minimum requirements in the RPG. In Zug, the referendum will not take place until May, and in Zurich the new regulation is still under parliamentary discussion. It is therefore clear that the cantonal regulations there cannot be put into force in time for May 1, 2019. (ah)
