He was talking to a concrete wall.

Residents platform Weezenhof was outraged by the conversation they had on February 14 about new construction plans for the Weezenhof shopping center. Rob Hendricks of Dornick BV, project developer and plan architect and the municipality of Nijmegen sat at the table. “He was talking about a concrete wall, and there was no negotiable adjustment.”

The residents platform wants to stick to the alternative plan for the new building they introduced in 2018 with the desires of no oversized supermarkets, no tall apartment towers, and a maximum of five floors. In the plans of Dornick BV, part of the building is 12 stories high.

‘Locals must accept that not everything can be done’

Last November, council members and local council member Noel Fergonst (GroenLinks) concluded that “the expectations towards local residents should be better managed”. A local council member added that “local people have to accept that some of the ideas they are proposing cannot be implemented.”

The municipality of Nijmegen has now announced that “the conclusion after the conversation is that the initiator and the residents present have different ideas about the content and are not on the same page when it comes to the mass of the building, the size of the houses and the orientation of the building. We have asked the neighborhood platform to continue discussions with the developer and the school about the layout of the public space that is not It has yet to be given a specific form. For the meeting. We would like to facilitate the conversations for this.”

refused to cooperate

Tineke Baart of the residents’ platform told us that because they believed there were more important things at stake than green space around the parking spaces, “we refused to cooperate.” She further explains: “Adjustments to the design plan wanted by neighborhood residents (adjusting building height, building mass, and locating the building and meeting space) were dismissed as ‘financially unfeasible.'” Furthermore, she says Rob Hendrix described it in more detail as “everything we gain outside Nijmegen, we have to make up for it in Nijmegen”.

The municipality of Nijmegen is currently working on a draft zoning plan that should allow for redevelopment. “The plan has already been discussed with the Image Quality Committee in a preliminary meeting and they have indicated that they are positive about this development. We expect to be able to publish the draft zoning plan in the second quarter of 2022. An information evening will also take place at that time and anyone can submit statement”.

Next steps

The municipality also regrets that “the neighborhood platform does not feel the need to contribute ideas as a working group, but we respect their choice.” Rob Hendriks told us he does not want to speak to the press because the communication goes through Nijmegen municipality.

The residents platform is now considering next steps, such as submitting opinions or objections to the zoning plan, which is necessary to obtain the environmental permit that the developer must apply for from the municipality. The platform also wants to bring an old, dormant association back to life. “We’ll need that if we have to go through a legal process,” Bart writes.

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