Facts
The Swiss Traffic Club (VCS) filed a complaint against an interim decision of the Administrative Court of the Canton of Aargau, which had determined the scope of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the planned OBI specialist store in the Tivoli Shopping Center. The Administrative Court had decided that only the Tivoli Shopping Center, but not the Shoppi, Limmatpark, and Umwelt-Arena shopping centers, should be included in the EIA.
The Federal Supreme Court partially upheld the VCS's complaint. It concluded that the planned OBI specialist store represents an expansion of the entire Shoppi Tivoli Shopping Center, and therefore the EIA must cover the entire traffic volume and parking facilities of the expanded Shoppi Tivoli Shopping Center. The Limmatpark and the 380 parking spaces of the Umwelt-Arena must also be included in the EIA as part of the Shoppi Tivoli Shopping Center.
Considerations
According to the case law of the Federal Supreme Court, a comprehensive facility within the meaning of the law, which is subject to the EIA as a whole, requires, in addition to spatial proximity, a close functional connection. This means that the individual parts must complement each other in such a way that they form or could form a single operational unit.
In the present case, the planned OBI specialist store, the Tivoli Shopping Center, the Shoppi Shopping Center, the Limmatpark,…