The board presents the board with two development scenarios for the Groen van Prinsterer site

SLIEDRECHT – The city council will be presented with two choices by the city executive for the location of Groen van Prinsterer. A former primary school now stands on the site. The college’s preference is to stop building on the site and make way for a “park-like environment”. As an alternative, the council is presented with a second development scenario with buildings as the blueprint. The choice is up to the city council. The plan will be presented to the board at the judgment meeting on Tuesday, November 22, 2022, beginning at 8 p.m.

The former Groen van Prinsterer primary school at Frans Halsstraat 1. According to the decision of the city council (integral accommodation plan, 2017), the building is proposed for disposal or repurposing. In mid-November 2021, the college decided not to sell to LEEF!. Now a new interpretation of the location awaits you. (File photo Hans van der Aa / Sliedrecht24)

The text continues below the sketch.

The city council does not want any more buildings on the Groen van Prinsterer site. (Municipal sketch of Sliedrecht)

An appropriation of €1,140,000 is available for the Jacob Catsstraat project, of which approximately €112,000 has so far been spent on preparation costs. It is expected that approximately €35,000 of preparatory credit will be required to develop the chosen development scenario into a final plan design after a council decision (this is based on all municipal research and planning costs to be incurred with a six-month period – ed.). According to the Commission, the budget available for the Jacob Catsstraat project is sufficient to cover the costs from preparation to the decision on the additional appropriation. The former school building belongs to the municipality of Sliedrecht and is rented to the local organization LEEF! since 2015. With Yulius, LEEF! from this location a social function for the inhabitants of Sliedrecht. The city council will talk about it on Tuesday, November 22, 2022 during a judgment meeting.

Park-like layout
Depending on the choices to be made, two development scenarios have been drawn up. Sketches were made for both scenarios, the pros and cons of each scenario were put together in an evaluation framework. For each scenario, these are sketches. The final design requires further elaboration as part of the follow-up process. Scenario 1 ‘green, blue and encounter’ (function: destination ‘park’, quality improvement: green (+), water (+) stay (+) ). In this direction of development, the proposal is to demolish the building – the former Groen van Prinstererschool – and give the project location a green, park-like interpretation, possibly with a play area or other interpretations added value for the neighborhood. Urban development analysis shows that a green and park-like design of the plan area provides the opportunity to utilize as many opportunities as possible within the development of this area. To be able to take advantage of these opportunities, there is simply no room to add a residential or social program. In this proposal, the parking spaces in the Jacob Catsstraat will be moved to where the school building used to be. The number of parking spaces will therefore remain approximately the same and space will be created to restore the water channel, which was filled in long ago, with the greenery surrounding it. In this scenario, it is also possible to improve the quality of space for the shopping complex, the entrance to the Kerkbuurt. The traffic structure is simplified. This makes the situation more attractive for slow road users (pedestrians and cyclists) and the quality of the stay increases.

residential building
Scenario 2 ‘Living with more space for pedestrians and cyclists’ (function: destination ‘housing’ or ‘inhabitant and social’, improvement of quality: housing (+)) In this sense of development, a function comes on the site of the old school building. Residential construction or residential construction in combination with a social function are both conceivable in this scenario. In this scenario, there is also room to improve the quality of the forecourt of the shopping complex and there is little space to add greenery. The Groen van Prinsterer location may be a suitable infill location for housing in an urban area and falls within the scale of sustainable urbanization, as there is a need in Sliedrecht for guest houses and residences for the elderly. However, the analysis of the urban development shows that it would concern a limited number of dwellings, since the Groen van Prinsterer site is a relatively small plot. Parking spaces for dwellings must also be made on site. A parking count was carried out in June 2021 to test the parking pressure. The parking offer in the public space is currently sufficient, but too limited to meet the parking needs of a new function. The addition of parking spaces means additional paving on and around the location of Groen van Prinsterer and, according to the city executive, therefore more limited possibilities to add spatial quality.