The expansion of this former Michelin colony in Vendée contested in court

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Six residents asked the Nantes administrative court this Tuesday, November 5, 2024, through two separate requests, to cancel the building permit which had been issued on October 17, 2022 by the mayor of the commune of Île d'Yeu (Vendée). ) at ODCVL – Educational Project Counter – to carry out “ the renovation” and the “extension” of 2,000 m² from the Violettes holiday village, on the island of Yeu (Vendée).

The “construction of a swimming pool” open to all is planned: the former Michelin group holiday center, which dates from the 1970s, could accommodate up to a thousand people simultaneously. But one of the residents, director of SCI Le Sémaphore, had already obtained from the judge of the administrative court of Nantes the suspension of the building permit by an order dated June 27, 2023.

“Totally unsuitable” for the “generated traffic flow”

The septuagenarian before advancing than the roads to access this “hotel and leisure center” was “totally unsuitable” for the “traffic flow generated”. “In addition to housing and camping spaces, the center is intended to accommodate the inhabitants of the island and in particular schoolchildren who will frequent the future swimming pool” explained its lawyer, Me Geoffroy De Baynast (De Baynast – Larcher firm). “We can therefore wonder if we are not misusing the provisions of the public procurement code! » he added.

A very poorly urbanized neighborhood

The lawyer also mentioned the fear that the project would ultimately constitute “a focal point for various festivities” in this “very poorly urbanized” neighborhood. The architect of Bâtiments de France (ABF) had also issued a “vitriolic” opinion on this real estate project, which will “double” the current footprint of the Violettes holiday center and bring “an unwelcome density” to “ a landscaped site of very high quality where a few diffuse constructions are dotted which disappear into the vegetation.”

A “pure and simple” cancellation recommended

This Tuesday, November 5, 2024, the case was therefore examined “on the merits” by the same administrative court in Nantes, but this time through a panel of three judges.

The public rapporteur, whose opinions are often followed by judges, proposed to cancel the building permit: “shared workshops” and “maintenance premises” or for “staff reception” are also planned, while as a “significant extension” of the Agora des Loisirs, he recalled.

These are therefore “new constructions”, and “not a simple enlargement” of the existing one, which are prohibited by the Coastal law: the project will be located “800 meters from the shore”, reminded the public rapporteur to the Nantes judges.

An attack on “a very high quality site”

It will be located in a “vast natural area”, in the middle of a « zone d’urbanisation diffuse » where there is not “a sufficient number of buildings” to deduce that it is already urbanized and that it could therefore escape the restrictions of the Littoral law. “The significant artificialization of the soil” which will result will harm a “very high quality site”, as evidenced by the “very explicit” opinion of the architect of Bâtiments de France (ABF), again recalled the public rapporteur.

Finally, the “insufficient sizing” of public networks (water, electricity, sanitation, etc.) is “not adapted to the importance” of the project; these “defects”, which are “not regularizable” by obtaining an amended building permit, must therefore result in the “pure and simple cancellation” of the building permit.

Not the “resurrection of a holiday center” but a “hotel project”

“This project is presented in a surprising way as the resurrection of a holiday center, when in reality it is a project of a completely different scale and which is absolutely not marginal: it is a hotel type project which is intended to welcome vacationers,” reacted the lawyer for Jean-Pierre XXX, the manager of SCI Le Sémaphore.

According to him, another argument would justify the cancellation of the building permit: access to the land is via a “dirt” path “2.70 meters wide”, “bordered by ditches” and “with nests”. de-hen”.

An “unusual campsite”

The lawyer for the other residents agreed with her, regarding this “perfectly illegal” building permit which also provides for “an increase” in “reception capacities” for “stays in tents”. The creation of an “unusual campsite” with “autonomous accommodation” would also have been mentioned “in the municipal bulletin” of the island of Yeu, according to her. A “snack bar”, a “grocery store” and a “swimming pool” must also be built, she reminded the Nantes judges.

The lawyer for the commune of Île d'Yeu, Me Isabel Léon (Cornet – Vincent – ​​Ségurel), for her part, made no other observations at the hearing than those already mentioned in her written briefs. The Nantes administrative court, which has reserved its judgment, will render its decision in approximately a month.

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