– Tired of waiting for a place at the water, he attacks his town
A resident of La Tour-de-Peilz invoked a priority right to a mooring place in the municipal port. The judges rule him wrong.
Published today at 7:32 p.m.
As elsewhere on Lake Geneva, mooring places are very popular in the port of La Tour-de-Peilz.
Chantal Dervey/Archives
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It is not enough to be domiciled in a municipality to be entitled to the mooring place attributed to a person who left the locality. This owner of a sailboat from La Tour-de-Peilz, who judged that the Municipality was managing the municipal port illegally, has just learned this to his cost. The Federal Court refused to grant him a place in the water, as he demanded, confirming a decision of the Cantonal Court.
In spring 2019, this resident of La Tour-de-Peilz requested the allocation of a mooring place in the municipal port for his boat. It was then registered in 129e position on the waiting list of people residing in the municipality. In July 2022, seeing nothing coming, the person concerned notified the Executive to provide him with the required place from 1er January 2023. Vain attempt.
Two hundred francs per day
In its appeal to the Federal Court, Boéland asked to order the Municipality of La Tour-de-Peilz to allocate it with immediate effect a mooring place “with the approximate dimensions of its sailboat” and to require the Executive to pay of 200 francs per day in case the desired mooring place is not offered within 30 days.
The appellant complained that many mooring berth holders are no longer domiciled in the municipality, without the Municipality withdrawing their authorization. Which, according to him, would constitute a violation of the regulatory principle of priority allocation of mooring places to residents. He also maintained that the renewal of the validity period of authorizations should not exceed 20 years. Which would have allowed him to obtain a mooring place in the water.
In the eyes of the Federal Court, the navigator loses sight of the fact that the criterion of domiciliation, according to municipal regulations, is only relevant, in terms of priority, for the granting of mooring places, but not for their maintenance or their withdrawal. Changing residence outside the municipality does not constitute grounds for withdrawal of the mooring authorization, except in the specific case of a person leaving Switzerland permanently.
2000 fr. legal costs
Furthermore, adds the Supreme Court, the municipality is not required – but has the possibility – to withdraw authorizations from their holders, so that it retains, in this area, a certain freedom of appreciation.
The judges further note that the automatic withdrawal of mooring authorizations in the event of departure from the municipality only concerns authorizations for temporary or very minor installations granted conveniently by the Canton. This is not the case here.
Dismissed, the appellant will pay 2000 francs in additional legal costs.
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Claude Béda is a journalist for the 24-hour Vaudois section. Passionate about social issues and the lives of people here, he covered several regions of the canton, before joining the Lausanne editorial staff. More informations
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