It seemed so nice to Johan Zijtveld of JeeGee Vastgoed: five houseboats from the private sector and one houseboat with three social homes in the marina. And build a semi-detached house there.
More people live in the marina that has existed for many decades at the dead end of the Kortenhoefsedijk (the Dead End), now offering 65 berths. Now there is only a company house at Kortenhoefsedijk 198.
Also read: Another downer for JeeGee Vastgoed. No homes and houseboats in De Ankerplaats marina in Kortenhoef. The Council of State agrees with the municipal council
But local politicians thought differently two years ago. The majority of the Wijdemeer municipal council was not in favor of the plan for housing in the Kortenhoef marina, between the Maarten Fokke marina and the Krakeelakker. Also fueled by local residents, because local residents had previously pulled out quite a few stops to stop plans for the marina.
Slimmed down
However, over the years, in consultation with the owner of the marina, Zijtveld had certainly slimmed down the plans in order to gain more support. They were registered with the municipality in mid-October 2020. Just before the stricter provincial regime for the countryside came into effect, along with a handful of other construction plans.
The unrest had remained. The result was letters from lawyers and five objections. Local residents fought with agreements dating from 2004 to prevent the arrival of too many houseboats. They had agreed this with the municipality, Natuurmonumenten and the owners of the marina.
Although the municipality’s in-house lawyer had advised in 2019 that these agreements had now been ‘worked out’, local residents continued to see this differently.
Historical agreements
A local resident who had gone to the municipal hearing committee was proven right. “Given historical agreements, there is no room to participate in the proposed development,” was the opinion of the committee, chaired by Gert Zagt, a councilor in opposition at the time.
But Johan Zijtveld did not agree with the council’s ruling and went to the Council of State on behalf of the initiator Wijdemeren Development (WO) and JeeGee Vastgoed.
According to him, local politics had been guided too much by fear of legal clashes with local residents. The case was heard at the end of November, but the Council of State declared the appeal of WO and its shareholders unfounded in March.
Area agreement
The highest administrative court ruled in favor of the municipal council because the plan conflicts with the Area Agreement for the Oostelijke Vechtplassen. In this agreement, which was also signed by Wijdemeren, among others, it was agreed to keep recreational facilities, such as marinas, afloat. Homes in the port do not correspond with this.
Councilor Ron de Haan reported last week that there will definitely be no houseboats on the Ankerplaats and that the recreational function will be enhanced. Johan Zijtveld confirms this. “It now remains with the existing zoning plan,” he says.