School Renovation in Wiedikon Stalled by Single Resident's Appeal
A single resident is holding up a CHF 140 million school renovation in Wiedikon — and it's now costing the city nearly half a million francs just to restore a meadow.
The Schulhaus Aemtler renovation in Kreis 3 has been stuck since last year, when a neighbour's appeal was granted suspensive effect by the Baurekursgericht, bringing all construction to a halt. The court has since rejected both of the resident's appeals — one against the geothermal borehole field planned under the Aemtlerwiese, another against temporary classroom structures — but the neighbour has taken the case further up the legal chain, and work cannot resume until proceedings conclude.
With no end in sight, the city has decided to restore the partially excavated Aemtlerwiese to usable condition: filling the construction pit, laying turf, and dismantling the site infrastructure. Cost: CHF 480,000. The meadow should be accessible again from the summer holidays.
The same neighbour is now reportedly considering a further appeal against the school renovation itself — a move the city describes as incomprehensible, given the project benefits the entire neighbourhood. What exactly the resident objects to remains unclear.
The renovation, which covers heat pumps, solar panels, and expanded facilities for full-day schooling, has already been complicated enough — the Gemeinderat sent it back to the city council a year ago over concerns about a CHF 5 million temporary kitchen. That dispute is still unresolved.
