17 years of landscape planning on the Upper Kyll

In the "Obere Kyll" association municipality in the Eifel region, 13 local municipalities are united to form an administrative unit covering an area of approx. 13,700 ha.

The planning process, which was documented over 17 years, took place in 5 stages:



1st stage 1989-1991

Pilot project of the state of Rh-Pf. introduction of the environmental assessment of the land use plan by means of landscape planning.

First nationwide application of the impact regulation in urban land use planning.

Publication by the state of Rhineland-Palatinate in 1992.



2nd stage 1992-1994

Experience input for the project of the Federal Ministry for the Environment and the BDLA "Introduction of landscape planning in the new federal states".

Reprint of the publication by the Federal BDLA 1994.



3rd stage 1999-2000

Partial update "Wind power" of the land use plan of the VG Obere Kyll.

Overall concept for the association municipality area for controlling the privileged use of wind power on the basis of the landscape plan.



4th stage 2003-2006

1st overall update of the Upper Kyll landscape / land use plan using digital "Geographical Information Systems (GIS)".

First-time implementation of an environmental assessment at the level of the land use plan according to BauGB 2004 in Rhineland-Palatinate
.


5th stage 2005-2006

Accompanying study on environmental monitoring / environmental observation on behalf of the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation. Published in 2007.

Due to the current topicality, results from stages 3 and 5 are briefly presented here.



Wind energy

The high-altitude western part of the municipality has the greatest wind potential in Rhineland-Palatinate. The first wind farms were built here from 1991 and have grown to around 70 turbines to date. By the end of the 1990s, the technology had been developed to such an extent that applications were also made to erect the now privileged turbines in lower-lying parts of the municipality. Some saw economic advantages in a structurally weak area, while others feared that the landscape on the upper Kyll would be "covered in asparagus".

An "overall concept for wind power" in landscape planning, combined with a partial update of the land use plan, was intended to objectify the political discussions and exhaust the legal control options.

In addition to noise emissions, the greatest potential for conflict with wind energy lies above all in the protected landscape/landscape.

Based on the existing landscape planning, it was possible to draw on a differentiated assessment of the landscape. Such bases have been available for every municipality in Rh.Pf. since the 1990s (Fig. 1). It was therefore possible to quickly derive the sensitivity to wind turbines: these are primarily the landscape areas in the open countryside that are classified as high quality.



Environmental monitoring / monitoring

Analysis of landscape change between the first (1990) and second (2004) landscape planning inventory using GIS. Documentation of the environmental assessment of the landscape/land use plan Obere Kyll (2006 update).

AppreciationGerman Landscape Architecture Award 2007

Jury verdict: The project replicates the exemplary process of integrated, participatory land use and landscape planning of a small community in the Volcanic Eifel. The landscape of the Upper Kyll was developed with the help of conceptual-creative impulses of the landscape plan - and this with foresight over a period of almost two decades.

The pilot planning in 1991/1992 was the first case of an integration of a landscape plan into the land use plan. In 2000, one of the first municipal overall concepts for wind energy was drawn up on the basis of landscape planning. The latest update of the landscape plan, which has been available since the end of 2006, is to be particularly emphasised once again. Because it also deals in an exemplary manner with the very latest environmental tasks such as the strategic environmental assessment and environmental monitoring.

Most of the tasks and requirements which are placed on modern landscape planning are fulfilled here in an exemplary manner. An overall view of the development of landscape planning since 1989. Particular mention should also be made of the lasting, constructive cooperation between local authorities, citizens and landscape planners.