“As long as they haven’t poured concrete, we’ll be there.” Perched on his stepladder, Dolorès Mijatovic, resident of Aubervilliers (Seine-Saint-Denis) soon to retire, ensures, this Monday afternoon, to respect the decision taken the same day by the administrative court of Paris. Seized by two associations and three gardeners, the court decided to suspend the building permit for the future training basin for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, which is to cut 4,000 m² of the 2.5 hectares of the Vertus allotment gardens, a centenary green enclave in the city. The decision comes more than two weeks after the evacuation of environmental activists, who occupied the site for four months, and the destruction of the huts and plantations on the site of the future site.
The UDI town hall of Aubervilliers and vice-president of Plaine Commune, Karine Franclet, assures Liberation that the town hall will appeal in cassation to the Council of State against the decision of the administrative jurisdiction. “I regret this decision which will slow down the project”, deplores the elected.
“The execution of this ordinance, which suspends the contested building permit, necessarily implies, as the applicants rightly claim, that the work already undertaken be immediately terminated”, explains the administrative court of appeal of Paris, requested in emergency procedure. There are “Serious doubts about legality” of this permit, irregularly deposited by the UDI mayor of Aubervilliers, Karine Franclet, and issued without respecting certain planning rules, in particular the compensation for felled trees, specifies the decision.
“Due to the amount involved, the town hall should have submitted the building permit to the municipal council, decrypts a source close to the file. But that was not done. It’s inexperience at best, incompetence at worst. ” The Olympic swimming pool project amounts to 33.6 million euros, whereas, as the Court of Appeal noted in its decision, “The municipal council has delegated [à la maire] the right to submit planning authorization requests on behalf of the municipality, up to a limit of 30,000,000 euros per project ”. Karine Franclet claims to have initiated discussions, as soon as she arrived at the town hall, on the destroyed plots. “It is a file that I take on, but which I inherited”, highlighted the aedile.
“As long as we have not artificialized the earth, it will remain a garden”
This suspension does not, however, mean the total cessation of the project, which must be the subject of a new hearing on the merits. For Ziad Maalouf, journalist who is one of the three gardeners who took legal action, “The most important thing for us is that the license be suspended”. “The judge held in serious doubts that there were not enough trees to compensate for the trees that were destroyed”, indicates the forties, who will remain «vigilant» on the performance of other work in addition to that of the swimming pool. “You continue to work for something that may not be done”, exposes Dolorès Mijatovic to the site manager of the bus station. The platform of this station was in fact planned to reach the entrance to the swimming pool.
“We are quite confident in the fact that in substance, the other arguments that we have developed – in particular the fact that the green grid is not respected, that the greening of the roof will not allow ecological continuity – will be respected., explains Ziad Maalouf. As long as we have not artificialized the earth, it will remain a garden. ” Because if the concrete has not yet been poured, the operations to destroy allotment gardens have started well. To date, the majority of the gardeners concerned have been relocated to other neighboring plots by Grand Paris Aménagement, the owner of the land.
Training pool for athletes during the Olympics, the swimming pool must then be accessible to the inhabitants of this popular city, in a department where 60% of children cannot swim when they enter sixth grade, in particular for lack of sufficient infrastructure. “Before being Olympic equipment, it is equipment that should allow the children of Seine-Saint-Denis to learn to swim, insists the mayor of Aubervilliers. I was a school principal for 15 years, I noticed that at the beginning of second, we were still at one in two students who could not swim. Two out of three students for CAP. So we need this equipment. ”
But for the detractors of the project, the cost of entry could be too high for the population of the department. “Seine-Saint-Denis does not need a new Aquaboulevard [complexe aqualudique situé dans le sud-ouest de Paris, à 35 euros l’accès pour les adultes et 20 pour les enfants, ndlr], had lamented to Release a figure of the Ile-de-France left, from May 2020. A priori, it is not suitable for modest people who simply want to cool off, play sports or teach their kids to swim. We have to hope that this is not a whim. ” The opponents, who were still 300 to parade Saturday in Aubervilliers, especially target the solarium which must accompany the aquatic center and see the light of day instead of trees and vegetable gardens.
“I don’t intend Seine-Saint-Denis to lose its credits”
If it does not necessarily call into question the final project, their mobilization and this first court decision will in any case weigh on the schedule. The swimming pool was initially due to be delivered by June 26, 2024 at the latest, one month before the start of the Games. “It’ll be hot, specifies a source close to the case. And if the deadline is not met, the financial balance of the project will be called into question. ”
“If the calendar does not allow the swimming pool to be signposted as a training site, the Solideo [l’organisme en charge des infrastructures des Jeux olympiques] will raise the debate “ of its financial participation, explained, Monday to the press, Stéphane Troussel, the president of the PS of the departmental council of Seine-Saint-Denis. The Solideo is supposed to support 10 million of the 33.6 million of the project, of which 20 million are supported by local communities and 3 million by the State. If this catastrophic scenario were to materialize, “I don’t intend Seine-Saint-Denis to lose its credits”, anticipates the chosen one, who made “Inheritance” of the Games a priority to boost the development of the poorest department in mainland France. For her part, the mayor of Aubervilliers affirms that “if the 10 million euro grant falls [au cas où la piscine ne peut être livrée qu’après les Jeux, ndlr]», she will ask the Prime Minister “To find alternative solutions”.
In addition, the administrative court of appeal of Paris had interrupted in April the work of the media village, another flagship project of the Olympics in Seine-Saint-Denis. But three months later, after the study of the file in the background, it had reversed, authorizing the resumption of the site.
Update at 7:15 p.m. with the reaction of the mayor of Aubervilliers who announces to Liberation to appeal in cassation.
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