In Pontoise we think of impressionist paintings to frame the future Plu

The City of Pontoise (Val-d’Oise) is preparing to change its Local Urban Plan after seven years of study.

A public inquiry must open in October for one month, before the adoption of the next regulation in December.

A revision had been planned for 2017, but a bankruptcy filing by the design office, responsible for carrying out the consultation, had stopped the process, before the health crisis postponed the project.

A consultation still took place and 67 observations were made in the thousand-page file.

Controlled growth

“Promoting the heritage of Pontoise, while pursuing controlled urban growth”, this is the approach desired by the municipality around its next Plu, since a PADD (Sustainable Development and Development Plan) which was established in 2021.

“We chose a Plu (local town planning plan) that is more protective of the environment,” defended Robert Dupaquier, deputy in charge of town planning, Monday June 3, 2024, during a presentation to the municipal council.

“The Plu of 2010 was focused on the absorption of urban wastelands: old slaughterhouses, station area, Bossut barracks,” recalled the elected official.

The new Plu focuses more on environmental protection.

“There is a strong demand for declassification of natural areas, to allow construction,” observes the elected official.

“From 17 natural zones in 2021, we have increased to 27 in 2024,” announces the deputy mayor. The protection of natural zones is thus extended to Pontoise.

Thus, no natural surface would have been used. “0.04 ha in ten years,” observes the City.

A feat that results from the development of Zac Bossut, it occupies most of the urban development of the City… for another ten years.

“The objective is a complete stop to the waterproofing of land and the artificialization of soil”

To avoid preventing urban development, building heights have been raised in certain sectors of the City, such as the Gare district.

“Reduced to the standards already applied in the city center,” specifies the member of the municipal council.

“What is moving a lot at the Plu level is the buildable surfaces (land use coefficient). 200m² were necessary to build. We have established thresholds in each neighborhood. Particularly Hermitage and Chou, where there is a strong demand for land division,” he adds.

The City is thus trying to avoid the fragmentation of plots and the push for urbanization..

The Oap of the Hermitage

In its desire to preserve its urban heritage, the City has launched a Development and Programming Orientation (Oap) for the Hermitage district.

An approach initiated by the local residents’ association led to the protection of this atypical sector, marked by a visual heritage which inspired numerous impressionist painters, whose paintings can be seen in museums around the world.

“We have included in the file views painted by masters of Impressionism,” underlines Robert Dupaquier.

These works of art thus frame the protection sector of the Hermitage in the next Plu, “thus combining art and town planning”.

A first without doubt in a Plu.

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