Kloten: Survey to explain citizens' rejection of new development area
The city of Kloten has spent money to explain why the development of the Steinacker site failed at the ballot box. The results are not surprising.
The "Steinacker" area in Kloten could have become one of the largest new development areas in the Zurich region - the plans envisaged a district for up to 7,000 residents and the establishment of 4,000 jobs. However, the rezoning of the land was narrowly rejected by voters in November last year, even though the city had advertised affordable housing for 3,500 people over the next 15 years alone.
In order to find out the reasons for the rejection, the city initiated an opinion poll, the results of which have now been published. The survey was conducted by the GFS-zürich research institute and recorded a response rate of 17.1% with just under 1,900 completed questionnaires.
More jobs are welcome - but higher density is not
"Fears of densification and growth" and "related reservations about the functioning of the transport system" were the main reasons for the skeptics, the city writes in a press release. The survey also revealed that tree felling in connection with the planned Glattalbahn extension in particular prompted some people to vote "no", even though the streetcar project was not the subject of the vote. According to the survey results, voters want a new referendum on urban development and greater involvement of the population in the political process. Although voters do not want the growth of companies and jobs in Kloten to be limited (16% in favor, 55% against), they also do not want "denser building in existing residential areas" (27% in favor, 49% against).
Implenia had acquired two key plots of land on the Steinacker with a total area of 20,000 square meters (IB reported). (aw)
