Lucerne: Land zoning freeze lifted
In the canton of Lucerne, building land may be zoned again from December. The Federal Council has lifted the zoning freeze as of this date.
The zoning freeze has been in place since 1 May this year. The Federal Council had imposed it because the canton of Lucerne's added value levy regulation did not meet the requirements of federal law. In the meantime, the canton of Lucerne has adapted its regulations, according to the Federal Council.
The background to this is that since May 2014 the Spatial Planning Act (RPG) has required the cantons to levy a tax of at least 20% on additional values resulting from land use. The cantons had five years to implement this.
The Lucerne regulation on the surplus value levy did not meet the requirements of the RPG because the levy was only to be imposed on surplus values of CHF 100,000 or more or on newly zoned areas of 300 sqm or more. However, this is contrary to federal law. In the meantime, the canton has abolished the exemption limit of 300 sqm and lowered the monetary exemption limit to CHF 50,000. The regulation is due to come into force on 1 December 2019, at which point the Federal Council will also lift the zoning freeze.
At present, the cantons of Zurich, Geneva and Schwyz as well as Glarus, Ticino and Obwalden are also prohibited from zoning new building land. (ah)
