Criticism of the city of Graz

Long building procedures put “location at risk”

The building boom in Graz has long since passed.

(Bild: Jauschowetz Christian)

Property developers in Graz have to wait years for valid decisions. As a result, they are increasingly going to court. There is also outrage in the industry about the city's "waiting games".

The big party is over, the hangover mood in the construction industry is now omnipresent. The explosive crisis mix of rising costs and falling demand has left its mark. Even the construction cranes that can still be seen in many places in Graz cannot hide this fact. In the provincial capital, however, real estate experts also identify another reason for the current rather suboptimal mood: the city is delaying construction processes - many even see this as wantonness on the part of the current city government.

The site on the Bahnhofgürtel is currently a parking lot. Actually, buildings with a gross floor area of up to 35,000 m2 should have been built here long ago.

(Bild: Jauschowetz Christian)

Development plan has been seven years in the making
Several legal proceedings have already been initiated or are in progress. Hannes Schreiner from Technopark Raaba and his lawyer Georg Eisenberger recently won a victory in court in this regard. There is a development plan obligation for his property between Bahnhofgürtel and Babenberger Straße - according to the law, this must be decreed within 18 months. Schreiner applied for the order on May 31, 2017, more than seven years ago.

The Constitutional Court considers the city's patience game to be an "effective building ban" and the development plan obligation must now be lifted. Schreiner can now submit his project using a normal building procedure.

Hannes (left) and brother Peter Schreiner (right) are delighted with lawyer Georg Eisenberger about an important stage victory.

(Bild: Mario Gimpel)

"We've had six rounds of talks with the people in charge - all without a result," says the entrepreneur, explaining why he went to court. Together with Helmut List, he even wrote a letter to the city government in the spring. AVL wants to set up office space for 300 employees on the site not far from the main railway station, as well as high-quality high-tech laboratories and a training workshop.

Negative impact on jobs
In this letter (available to the "Krone"), Schreiner and List stated, among other things, that such an approach with a leading company would have a massive negative impact on the location and on securing and creating jobs. "We didn't even get an answer," Schreiner shakes his head.

Despite the test of patience, the Graz-based flagship company intends to stick to its expansion plans: "We hope that the city will now take the right measures," says AVL spokesperson Markus Tomaschitz.

18 months are not enough
The politically responsible Deputy Mayor Judith Schwentner (Greens) expresses her regret at how "things have gone since 2017". "Especially in this heavily sealed area, it would be all the more important to get a high-quality development plan with more green space off the ground." She is calling for the 18-month deadline to be extended, "as this is no longer appropriate for us in terms of high-quality urban development".

"We have significantly improved the quality of development plans during this period. This is an extremely valuable step for urban development and a future-proof Graz. After all, our mission is the common good."

Judith Schwentner, Vizebürgermeisterin (Grüne)

Outsourcing development plans
Gerald Gollenz, Chairman of the Real Estate and Property Trustees of the WKO, naturally takes a completely contrary view. For larger projects, processing already takes at least three years. "The number of applications has increased to such an extent that the officials can no longer cope. That's why this should be outsourced to external experts who process the cases with the city's lawyers."