New locations for owner-occupied homes

For a long time, detached single-family homes were the favoured form of housing in Germany. However, the framework conditions that helped the house on the outskirts of the city to achieve a breakthrough in recent decades have changed. From both an ecological and economic perspective, it is important to curb the constant expansion of settlement and transport areas. Chemnitz city planners are therefore also looking for ways to integrate new residential areas into the existing infrastructure. Brownfield sites and gaps between buildings are ideal for this. As a result, new forms of construction for owner-occupied housing within established neighbourhoods are becoming increasingly important. The "Sustainable housing development" concept is also fleshing out the aspect of housing development by identifying brownfield sites and gaps for owner-occupied housing.In view of the declining demand for owner-occupied homes on the outskirts of the city and against the backdrop of urban redevelopment, this trend reversal in building land policy is unavoidable - three decisions made by Chemnitz City Council at its meeting yesterday were also made with this in mind.

Housing estate on Feldstraße in Grüna to grow

With the decision to weigh up and approve the supplementary statutes no. 12/01 for an area on Feldstraße in Grüna, the city council cleared the way for the construction of eight to ten new detached houses on a plot of land classified as an outdoor area without the need for a complex development plan procedure. In order to rule out any objections, the city obtained comments from authorities and other public bodies in advance, after the planning, building and environmental committee had passed a resolution to draw up these supplementary regulations in March last year.The resulting building plots for new homes on Feldstrasse are also in line with the urban development concept.The declared aim of this concept is to preserve the residential character of the western districts of the city, which the city planners hope to achieve by utilising brownfield sites and gaps in developed housing estates for the construction of owner-occupied homes.

Harmony between slab and owner-occupied home: co-operative builds 15 owner-occupied homes on Morgenleite

At the same meeting, the city council also debated a planned owner-occupied housing estate by Wohnungsbaugenossenschaft Chemnitz-Helbersdorf eG (WCH). The cooperative wants to build 15 detached and semi-detached houses on a 1.5-hectare brownfield site south of Johann-Richter-Straße and north of Max-Türpe-Straße. Areas of the future housing estate were previously undeveloped, while parts of the so-called city wall had been demolished on other areas.

The co-operative's plans are in line with the urban development goals. Here, in the south of Chemnitz, the city planners want the dense settlement of prefabricated buildings to be broken up by smaller-scale, owner-occupied forms of housing using the existing road and the mains network. These urban planning objectives apply in particular to the peripheral areas of the large housing estates in Hutholz-Süd, Markersdorf-Süd and Morgenleite: here, an adaptation to neighbouring rural structures and building forms is virtually desirable. The new, maximum two-storey detached and semi-detached houses will therefore fit in well with the settlement structure of the Südblick residential area.

The 15 building plots in the Morgenleite district are to be developed via the project-related development plan no. 11/12. The advantage of this new home location is its unobstructed view of the Ore Mountains. Precisely because the new homes are located close to the prefabricated housing estate, other amenities also come into play - such as the well-developed transport infrastructure as well as supermarkets, a shopping centre and retail outlets as well as adequate medical care and nearby daycare centres and schools.

The city council took this project into account with yesterday's confirmed "Consideration and statute resolution on the project-related development plan no. 11/12 residential development Markersdorfer Südblick".

Supplementary bylaws enable the construction of owner-occupied homes on Schenkenberg

On Schenkenberg in Reichenhain, the city also wants to enable the consolidation of the existing owner-occupied home site without a complex development plan procedure. (The term "rounding off" is used in particular in building law and construction planning and refers to the inclusion of properties in the existing development).

The city councillors were also presented with the "Consideration and statute resolution on supplementary statutes no. 11/11 Schenkenberg" on Wednesday. With supplementary statutes, the municipality can incorporate individual undeveloped outlying areas into the built-up neighbourhoods.