the urban plan of the Metz Metropolis partly suspended

This is a snub for the metropolis of Metz. This Friday, November 8, the Strasbourg administrative court “partially suspended” as an emergency (interim procedure) its Local Intercommunal Urban Planning Plan (PLUI).

What are we talking about? The most important urban planning document of the coming years. The one who authorizes or not the construction of a housing estate, a sports field or a parking lot, in the 45 municipalities of the Metz metropolis. The PLUI was adopted by the team of President François Grosdidier on June 3, 2024. Painfully, one could say, as there were so many oppositions. Political, obviously, with a plan judged by the left from another time on ecological ambitions. But also a citizen, with an appeal filed before the administrative court by the association “Sauvons les Terres du Pays Messins”, in July. The association criticized, for example, the urbanization of more than 10.5 hectares of the Mercy forest, for the installation of a photovoltaic park. She calculated 500 hectares which would be urbanized throughout the territory with the PLUI.

As early as March 2024, the (mandatory) public commission of inquiry had issued an unfavorable opinion on the first version.

“Doubt about the legality of the plan”

The point is now being driven home at the legal level. The judges identified “a doubt about the legality of the plan”. This is no longer a recommendation but a temporary suspension, while waiting to judge the case in more detail on the merits “during 2025”. They suspend the plan concerning future urbanization zones (zones 1 AU and 2 AU) and the sectoral development and programming guidelines (OAP).

False methodology

The judges motivated the decision by an “environmental assessment marked by inadequacies and methodological problems which distorted the analysis of land consumption”. But also by inaccuracies and lack of consistency in the assessment of the environmental impact on certain sectors concerned by “development and programming guidelines” likely to affect natural environments. »