Controversial Kinsendael Gardens Project Sparks Debate and Legal Battles in Uccle

2023-09-24 06:10:00

To the south of the Illochroma wasteland, currently transformed into a public car park during work on the Chaussée d’Alsemberg, another construction site is starting. Demolition work to create the three blocks of the Kinsendael Gardens project has begun while construction is scheduled for April-May 2024, to the great dismay of its detractors.

While the permit was granted in July 2023, opponents still denounce a project of 199 housing units “disproportionate and without a real impact study on the neighborhood given other recent or planned projects. Ultimately, the Illochroma wasteland must also be reurbanized by the same developer as the Jardins du Kinsendael but the two projects have been split.

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The opponents had until September 20 to lodge an appeal and this is the path they chose. “We filed an appeal for cancellation of the planning permit on September 18, 2023 with the Council of State,” explains a member of the neighborhood committee. This long procedure does not block the execution of the work until the Council of State has ruled. “This request for cancellation is essentially based on the absence of an overall study of the impacts which would result not only from the two phases of the project (north and south) but also from the numerous other projects already carried out and to be carried out in the nearby surroundings.”

“An affront”

However, local residents were surprised to see the work begin before this date of September 20. “We thought that as long as there was an appeal, the work would not begin. We were wrong.” Legally, nothing obliges the promoter to wait. “This September 20, 2023, we submitted a request for suspension to the Council of State. This faster procedure can suspend a construction site. While awaiting a decision, the promoter can continue its program.”

Another point of tension: the message sent by the developers when launching the work. “They started by cutting down the sweetgum tree.” Residents had, in the past, launched a procedure to have this liquidambar included in the register of remarkable trees. If it had been successful, this procedure would have complicated the implementation of one of the blocks of the project. “It was the symbol of our fight. It’s an offense.

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