The Grand Council in Basel approves the development plan for the new tennis hall of the Old Boys sports club.
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. The SP and the GAB lost their application for rejection to the government council.
The new hall on the Schützenmatte area will contain four indoor pitches and make the installation of balloon halls in the 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, and the government is also supporting the hall project with 700,000 francs through the Swisslos sports fund.
The deal was controversial in the Grand Council. The SP and the GAB requested a rejection. 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.
The rejection motion was rejected by 49 votes to 39 with 7 abstentions. Finally, the council approved the development plan with 49 votes to 5, with an impressive 31 abstentions.
