Closure of Noordereiland Parking Deck Can Proceed: Court Rejects Preliminary Injunction

The case concerns plans that the municipality of Zwolle has for the development of the Noorderkwartier, contained in the ROP. Part of these plans is the redevelopment of the Noordereiland parking garage. The municipality wants to demolish the garage and redevelop the site. Pending the demolition of the garage, the municipality wants to close the parking garage from January 5. The local resident objected to the ROP and the intended demolition of the parking garage with the municipality and, after the municipality declared his objection inadmissible, asked the court to prevent the closure of the parking garage with a preliminary injunction. 

The court rules that the municipalitys inadmissibility declaration was justified because the ROP, like the actual demolition decision, is not a decision against which administrative law procedures can be appealed. The ROP is a vision that will have far-reaching consequences for the Noorderkwartier, but it has no legal effects in itself. Legal effects only arise when the municipality, for example, establishes a zoning plan or grants permits, against which objections can then be made or appeals can be lodged. The closure of the parking garage does not follow directly from the ROP: this is a separate decision of the municipal council, over which the administrative court cannot rule.

After the appeal was filed and the request for a preliminary injunction by the objector, the municipality nevertheless granted a demolition permit for the parking garage. The plaintiff wanted the court to take this into account in his request. The court rules that this is not possible and notes that a possible preliminary injunction regarding the demolition permit does not necessarily mean that the parking garage will remain open.