Facts
The spouses X. operate a part-time agricultural business located in the agricultural zone of the municipality of Arni, comprising around 4.5 hectares of owned and leased land. They submitted a building permit application for a new residential building, as they are dependent on a new house due to the right of residence of X.'s parents in the existing house.
The municipality of Arni, the district governor of Konolfingen, and the Directorate of Construction, Transport and Energy of the Canton of Bern rejected the building permit application, as the business does not provide a sufficient livelihood for the farm management family. The spouses X. appealed the decision of the Directorate of Construction, Transport and Energy to the Administrative Court of the Canton of Bern, which upheld the appeal and remanded the case for a new assessment to the lower instance.
The Federal Office for Spatial Development filed an administrative court appeal against this judgment of the Administrative Court to the Federal Supreme Court.
Considerations
The Federal Supreme Court dismisses the appeal. It states that residential buildings in the agricultural zone are in conformity with the zone under Art. 16 RPG if they are in immediate functional relation to the agricultural or horticultural business and appear indispensable with regard to the land-dependent use of the land.
In assessing the conformity with the zone, the definition of the agricultural business in Art. 7 para. 1 BGBB is to be taken into account insofar as it is compatible with the objectives of spatial planning. A residential building for a smaller agricultural business can be recognized as conforming to…