There is something wrong with this street – not at all. At one point the Bahnhofsstrasse in Tavetsch GR is suddenly narrower than usual. The small stretch stretches over 20 meters. As if someone had slipped with the machine at the hairdresser’s and had turned the beautifully styled hairstyle into a military look.
But while the hairdresser’s faux pas can be quickly eradicated, it should take a lot longer in the 2,000-inhabitant village in Surselva. Because the narrowing was not a botch, but pure intention. Behind it is a posse whose main protagonists are the community of Tavetsch, represented by community president Martin Cavegn, and local resident Andreas B.*.
The former had a say in the fact that the Bahnhofstrasse in Tavetsch was recently renewed and widened. The latter is the owner of parcel 521, which runs along Bahnhofstrasse.
Conditions of Sale Set
The odyssey began when the Bahnhofstrasse was to be renovated and widened at the same time. The municipality therefore wanted to buy adjacent plots of land in order to build the road on the one hand and to have more building land available on the other.
Actually an ideal prerequisite for Andreas B., who has been looking for a buyer for his plot for three decades. After some negotiations, the parties agreed on the price. “But then he suddenly made conditions that the community could not and did not want to meet,” says Mayor Martin Cavegn to Blick.
It was about assistance in a private legal dispute that B. is conducting on another property with another hotel. B. claims that the municipality has changed the building code to its disadvantage and on its own initiative and wants to see the old versions of the code. The community replies that the allegation is absurd. Because there was no progress, the municipality suggested to Andreas B. that they only buy the 20 square meters to build the pavement there. But B. was not interested in that because, as he says, he would no longer be able to put up a house on the remaining area. He therefore linked the sale to further conditions. “Then it got too colorful for us,” says Cavegn. “The community cannot be blackmailed.”
Andreas B. is threatened with expropriation
What remains is a street that has become an eyesore instead of a showpiece. But the posse doesn’t end there.
The municipality does not want to leave the disfigured street as it is. And that’s why they applied to the canton for expropriation of B.’s property – for the part they want for the sidewalk. “I expect a decision every day,” says Cavegn. Andreas B. claims to have only found out about his opponent’s move by looking at it: “Expropriated? I hear that for the first time!” Cavegn replies that B. has known about it for a long time. He had already been asked by the canton for an opinion.
A story as weird as the picture of this street.
* Name changed