Urban land-use planning
Preparation of an urban land-use plan
The task of urban land-use planning is to control the urban development organisation of municipalities. A distinction is made between the land use plan (the preparatory urban land-use plan) and the development plan (the binding urban land-use plan). The land utilisation plan depicts the intended land use and thus the urban development of a municipality. The development plan regulates in detail the type and extent of development for a specific part of the municipality.
The municipalities must draw up the urban land-use plans in a formal procedure as soon as and insofar as this is necessary for urban development and organisation. The urban land-use planning procedure is regulated in Sections 1 to 13a of the Federal Building Code (BauGB).
Public participation
The BauGB provides for two stages of public participation:- Early participation
- Public display
The formal procedure usually begins with a decision to prepare the site by the responsible planning, building and environmental committee, which is then published in the official gazette of the City of Chemnitz.
As soon as the preliminary draft of the development plan has been drawn up, it is used for early public participation. This takes the form of a public display (usually for a period of two weeks) at the city planning office and on www.chemnitz.de. During the public display, every citizen has the opportunity to inspect the documents on display and to submit comments. All comments and suggestions received during the early participation period are examined and incorporated into the further drafting process.
Once the draft development plan has been created from the preliminary draft and the findings of the early participation, it is submitted to the responsible planning, building and environmental committee for a decision on public display. If the planning, building and environmental committee agrees with the plan, it then decides to put the draft plan, together with the explanatory statement and the main environmental comments already received, on public display for a period of one month. The documents are also posted on www.chemnitz.de. During the public display, every citizen has the opportunity to inspect the documents on display and to submit comments. All comments and suggestions received will be examined and incorporated into the further planning process.
Current procedures in the public display
At the same time, the authorities and other public agencies affected by the planning are involved in the respective participation steps in accordance with Section 4 (1) and (2) BauGB.
The result of the public display may also result in the need to amend the plans and put them out to public display again.
All comments submitted on time are taken into account when weighing up the urban land-use plan. When drawing up the urban land-use plans, the public and private interests must be weighed up fairly against each other and among themselves (Section 1 (7) BauGB). The city council decides on the balancing of interests with the balancing resolution. The result of the consideration is then communicated to the submitters. Once the decision to weigh up the proposals has been made, the city council can adopt the resolution to approve a development plan (or the resolution for the land use plan).
The land-use plan or an amendment to the land-use plan must then be submitted to the State Directorate of Saxony for approval.
Once the resolution on the articles of association has been passed, the development plan can be published in the official gazette. The development plan comes into force upon publication. This also applies to the approved land use plan.
The main procedural steps of a "normal" urban land-use planning procedure were described. The Building Code also permits procedures that deviate from these procedural steps in some cases. For example, the simplified procedure in accordance with Section 13 BauGB or the accelerated procedure in accordance with Section 13a BauGB can often dispense with early participation and a formal environmental assessment, which speeds up the procedure considerably.
The project-related development plan in accordance with Section 12 BauGB is an urban land-use plan with which an already detailed project is to be realised. The project and development plan, which concretises this project, is usually part of the development plan.
A deviating type of procedure is indicated for each procedure.
Land use plan
The land use plan (FNP), as a so-called preparatory urban land-use plan, represents the basic spatial planning and development objectives of a municipality.
The special significance of the land use plan in the context of urban development lies in the fundamental decision of a municipality as to how and for what purpose (development, transport, agriculture, forestry, recreation, nature conservation, etc.) the available land can and should be used sensibly and appropriately.
No specific legal claims, for example the right to build on a plot of land, can be derived from the land utilisation plan. However, it is an important basis for the creation of development plans (binding urban land-use plans), which specify the urban development in sub-areas of the city with legally binding stipulations.
When drawing up or amending a land use plan, the overriding objectives of spatial, state and regional planning must be observed.
The land utilisation plan can also be found in the thematic city map:
Development plans
The regulations of the development plan are to be developed from the representations of the land utilisation plan. The development plan contains the legally binding stipulations for the urban development organisation of each individual property in its area of application. In accordance with the German Building Code, it regulates whether and how a property may be built on.
The most important stipulations of a development plan include the determination of the type and extent of building use, areas of land that can actually be built on and traffic areas. In addition, areas for agriculture and utilities, for example, can be specified.
The city council issues bylaws for the development plan after a procedure regulated by the German Building Code has been completed.
A graphic overview of the legally binding development plans can also be found in the thematic city map:
XPlanning
XPlanung is a national data exchange standard for certain spatial planning documents (urban land-use planning, spatial planning, landscape planning), which was adopted as binding by the IT Planning Council on 5 October 2017.
The Urban Planning and Property Office has introduced XPlanGML as a mandatory submission format for urban land-use planning procedures. In the course of this, a specification sheet was drawn up that defines the requirements for the XPlanGML standard.