The Grand Council in Basel approved the development plan for the “Roger Federer Hall” – albeit with an exceptionally high number of abstentions.
The most important thing in brief
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The Basel Grand Council gives the green light for the “Roger Federer Hall”.
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The development plan was approved with 49 votes to 5.
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However, there were an impressive 31 abstentions.
On Wednesday, the Basel Grand Council approved the development plan for the construction of a new tennis hall for the Old Boys sports club on the Schützenmatte.
However, it took a lot to get the “Roger Federer Hall,” as it is popularly known, to say yes. The Grand Council debated. It was more emotional than ever, as the “bz Basel” reported.
The council ultimately approved the development plan by a vote of 49 to 5. However, there were an impressive 31 abstentions. Which corresponds to almost a third of the cantonal parliament!
Hall with four indoor courts
The new “Roger Federer Hall” on the Schützenmatte area is intended to contain four indoor courts and make the installation of balloon halls in winter unnecessary.
The club announced an architectural competition for the tennis hall, which the firm Stich + Oswald Architekten from Basel won.
The plan is to build a seven meter high wooden hall.
The construction is mainly financed by the club where Roger Federer once hit the first balls over the net.
The municipality of the city of Basel is making the property available under building rights. The government is also supporting the indoor project with 700,000 francs through the Swisslos sports fund.
The “Roger-Federer-Halle” controversy
The SP and the GAB requested a referral to the government council.
The parliamentary groups complained that with the construction of the hall, publicly usable open spaces would be lost. For this reason, numerous objections were submitted by residents.
There was also criticism that the Construction and Transport Department had failed to submit an overall master plan for the entire Schützenmat area.
Among other things, there are plans for a possible new secondary school building on the site, which need to be taken into account.
The speakers of the civil parliamentary groups and the GLP strongly advocated for the development plan.
It was said repeatedly that it was the first and only tennis hall in the canton. The project is therefore indispensable for the sports city of Basel.
In addition, the tennis club could therefore forego the temporary construction of ecologically problematic balloon halls.
