Strong decisions on housing projects – KOBR: news from Bodegraven-Reeuwijk

Tue, Dec 6, 7:37 PM
General Government

BODEGRAVEN-REEUWIJK – After extensive discussion in the planning committee, it was not difficult for the city council to take decisions on two important housing projects in a short period of time. These were the construction of the Pastoriestaete apartment complex on the former Burggraaf site in the center of Bodegraven and the pilot housing project for migrant workers near the N11/Nespad.

by Bert Verver

Pastoral domain

For several years, efforts have been made to find a suitable location at the corner of Kerkstraat-Pastorieplein and Voorplein, where, until the move, the Burggraaff hardware store was located. This interpretation now seems to have been found, since Burggraaff Holding and Rhynleve Vastgoed have jointly drawn up a plan under the name “Pastoriastaete”. In this plan, there is room for a partially buried parking basement with thirty owner-occupied (senior) apartments and five rental apartments above. “We can look forward to this project, which will give the center a quality boost,” says Alderman Dirk-Jan Knol.

The city council shared this opinion unanimously, but still asked to include a number of points of attention in the so-called “prior agreement”. This is concluded between the municipality and the promoter. One of the points of attention was to monitor the structural condition of the surrounding buildings. Some feared that unmanned buildings in the area, such as the village church, could be damaged by construction activities.

Another point of attention was highlighted by Henk van der Smit (SGP). He asked for good agreements on traffic flow and parking on this very busy corner during the construction period of probably 1.5 years. Johan Langelaar (ChristenUnie) heard that the local residents were not completely reassured about the state of things and he asked that attention be paid to a good participation process.

The alderman promised to discuss these aspects with the initiators. That was enough for the board to give the college the go-ahead for the next step.

Housing for migrant workers

The intention of We Living and De Vries & Verburg to build accommodation for around 100 migrant workers on the pasture plot between McDonald’s and the N11 was also discussed at length during the preparatory committee meeting. However, there was a setback for the meeting: three of the five still active members of the sounding board who had supervised the whole process indicated that they would cease their activities, in short because they felt insufficiently heard by the municipality. . Alderman Dirk-Jan Knol was disappointed with this step, but promised council members to insist on an orderly engagement process with the project developer.

There was general relief among councilors that there appears to be progress on this loaded file at last. This is a pilot project with a building that can be used for 10 to 15 years to accommodate international employees, preferably working in the municipality itself. In addition to the social aspect of this form of housing, an important objective is also to free up rooms that can be rented in the center of Bodegraven. The hope is that this will create space in these locations for apartments for young starters and urgent seekers. However, the alderman clarified that this transformation still has some legal hitches.

The most important points that were still on the table were the concerns about traffic flow at the Nespad-Goudseweg intersection and the manageability of the large number of temporary residents in this corner. The board should also clarify when the “pilot” can be considered a success.

After the alderman’s promise to include these comments in the follow-up meeting and to regularly update the council on the state of affairs, the council unanimously supported the initiative. The college can now continue negotiations with promoters.