Facts
The Federal Office for Spatial Development (ARE) appealed against the decision of the Cantonal Department of Territorial and Environmental Affairs of the Canton of Vaud to approve the extension of a partial zoning plan (PPA) of the Municipality of Orbe without equivalent compensation for the new areas classified as building zones. The PPA provided for a 42,000 m2 extension of the artisanal and industrial activity zone into the agricultural zone, in order to allow the development of a food processing company that would create 450 jobs. The canton had fully exempted the municipality from the obligation to compensate the reduction of agricultural land and the equivalent declassification of building zones.Considerations
The Federal Tribunal ruled that, although the objective of economic development and job creation was legitimate, the conditions of urgency required by Art. 52a para. 2 let. c SPA to allow an exception to the prohibition on increasing the total area of building…