According to the report, no EIA is necessary – the approval procedures still have to be carried out
Due to current events, the Municipal Directorate informs about the following facts in connection with a decision by the Vienna State Government: Today, Wednesday, August 7th, the process of a circular resolution on a variant of the “Heumarkt neu” project was started: This concerns the clarification of whether an environmental impact assessment (EIA) must be carried out for this variant. According to the current draft decision from the Vienna State Government, this is not the case. This circular resolution decision concerns a variant of the submitted “Heumarkt neu” project (up to 56.5 m high).
The decision of the state government that an environmental impact assessment is not necessary does not constitute an approval for the project in any way. All other approval procedures (e.g. according to the Vienna Building Code, the Trade Code) still have to be carried out.
In its ruling of June 19, 2024, the Federal Administrative Court (BVwG) prescribed an 8-week deadline for the Vienna state government to issue a decision in accordance with the BVwG’s legal opinion. The Federal Administrative Court is thus instructing the state government to base its decision, among other things, on the report of a UNESCO expert – one such expert is available. In addition, in the opinion of the BVwG, there is no need to wait for further decisions from UNESCO. According to the current report, the world cultural heritage is “not significantly” affected by the variant currently in the EIA review process.
In order to meet the 8-week deadline set by the BVwG and thus by the court, the decision must be made by circulation, since no meeting of the Vienna state government is scheduled until August 16, 2024. This process has therefore been initiated.
