The legal dispute between the Fuball Bundesliga club SC Freiburg and residents of the new Europa-Park Stadium has been resolved. Together with the city and the government presidium, the parties agreed on a settlement on Wednesday.
“I am pleased about this, as we achieve such important planning security,” SC Board Member Oliver Leki said in a joint press release. The club is now allowed to play in its new home ground on Friday evenings and Sunday afternoons.
City commits to compensatory measures
The starting point was six local residents who filed a lawsuit with the Freiburg Administrative Court in November 2018 against the building permit for the stadium issued by the Freiburg Regional Court and filed a standard control application against the development plan with the Baden-Wrttemberg Administrative Court and submitted corresponding applications.
Freiburg’s Vincenzo Grifo during a corner kick at the Europa-Park Stadium.
/ Picture: Tom Weller/dpa
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As a result of the settlement, the city undertakes not to cultivate the approximately ten-hectare forest area between Padua Avenue and Granada Avenue and in Rehwinkel, Obere Lachen and the railway line in the next 30 years. In addition, the City of Freiburg provides a budget of 100,000 euros for the renovation and modernization of playgrounds and meeting places in the Mooswald district.
No big concerts are allowed in the stadium
In addition, further restrictions on use have been set for a period of ten years: in particular, no conversion into a multifunctional hall should take place and no big concerts or open-air cinema events with more than 5000 spectators should be held in the stadium environment.
