The city of Vienna’s municipal department responsible for environmental protection (MA 22) reported this in a broadcast on Wednesday. The relevant procedure will soon be concluded with a determination notice, it said in the broadcast. Specifically, the resolution is on the Vienna state government’s agenda for May 14th.
Multiple approval processes
However, whether the submitted project can actually be implemented depends on many different approval procedures – such as forestry law, railway law, water law or nature conservation law. “Overall, this is now an official decision tied to the current legal situation – and not a decision on the matter itself,” explained the city of Vienna. It was emphasized that an EIA assessment notice only makes a statement about the authority’s responsibility and not about whether the cable car can be built or not. The answer to the question of a possible construction depends on the outcome of the pending approval procedures.
- From the archive: Cable car to the Kahlenberg: Nudists fear for privacy
Relevant thresholds not reached
MA 22 explained that the controversial cable car provision in the EIA Act, which was newly created in 2023, was not applicable due to a transitional provision. With regard to the construction of publicly accessible parking spaces or parking garages, the audit showed that the relevant threshold had not been reached “due to cumulation with other public vehicle parking spaces in the area.” “For the other offenses under consideration, the relevant threshold values were not reached or were not applied at all,” it continued.
The decision is officially valid as soon as it is announced by the office of the Vienna state government. From this point on, the four-week period for possible complaints to the Federal Administrative Court begins. The state environmental prosecutor’s office did not want to comment in more detail on Wednesday. “We will wait until we have the decision and will then check whether we can lodge a complaint,” said Norbert Hörmayer, deputy of the Viennese environmental lawyer Iris Tichelmann.
“Sustainable showcase project”
As expected, project developer Hannes Dejaco was pleased with the decision. “It is good that the question of the EIA obligation has now finally been clarified, because this has created the necessary legal certainty for all further procedures,” explained the managing director of “Genial Tourismus- und Projektentwicklung GmbH” in a statement in the afternoon. Due to the small space requirement of the Kahlenberg cable car and the specifications, it was assumed that there was no EIA requirement for this project. But now all uncertainties have finally been resolved. This means we have come a big step closer to “implementing the Kahlenberg cable car,” said Dejaco. The brains behind the project saw confirmation on Wednesday that “the Kahlenberg cable car is a sustainable and environmentally friendly showcase project in the public interest.”
Project opponents announce complaint
The project opponents associated with the citizens’ initiative “Protect the Vienna Woods – Stop the cable car to the Kahlenberg” announced a complaint to the Federal Administrative Court late on Wednesday afternoon, and if necessary also to the Administrative Court, it was said. “The Vienna state government is obviously not sufficiently aware of the EIA guidelines,” said the citizens’ initiative’s legal representative, Wolfgang List.
The law firm argues, among other things, that a corresponding EU directive has fundamentally prescribed EIA procedures for cable cars since 2011. Accordingly, cable cars would generally have to undergo an environmental impact assessment before construction. Austria has simply not implemented the directive so far. “There is also an infringement procedure because Austria has so far only carried out EIAs for glacier cable cars,” lawyer Fiona List told the APA in April 2023. Although the Austrian EIA law, which was amended on the basis of the EU directive, does not yet correspond to the European requirements, a corresponding EIA obligation can be clearly seen.
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Source: Nachrichten
