Land use plan and development plan; public and official participation

The procedure for drawing up, supplementing, canceling or amending urban land-use plans is regulated in the Federal Building Code (BauGB). The relevant legal provisions can be found in particular in Sections 1 to 4b, 6 and 10 BauGB.

Part of the urban land-use plan process is the environmental assessment, which is carried out for environmental protection concerns. This comprises the determination of the likely significant environmental impacts and their description and assessment in an environmental report. The environmental report forms a separate part of the explanatory memorandum to the urban land-use plan.

The procedure is usually initiated by a drafting resolution of the responsible municipal body, such as the municipal council. On the basis of a preliminary draft, early public participation usually takes place, in which citizens are to be informed about the general objectives and purposes of the planning and the likely effects of the planning, among other things. They must be given the opportunity to comment and discuss the plans. In addition to the early involvement of the public, the municipality also carries out an early involvement of the authorities and other public agencies whose area of responsibility may be affected by the planning. This also serves to provide the municipality with information on the required scope and level of detail of the environmental assessment. After the early participation of citizens and authorities, the draft urban land-use plan is revised if necessary.

Subsequently, the draft of the urban land-use plan, together with the explanatory memorandum and what the municipality considers to be the main environmental comments already received, is published on the Internet for a period of one month (but for at least 30 days - "February clause"). In addition to publication on the Internet in accordance with sentence 1, one or more other easily accessible means of access, such as publicly accessible reading devices or a public display of the documents referred to in sentence 1, shall be made available. The notice shall also indicate which types of environmental information are available. The content of the local announcement and the documents to be made available in accordance with sentence 1 must also be posted on the Internet and made accessible via a central Internet portal of the federal state (Section 3 (2) sentence 5 BauGB); however, the only decisive factor for the legal validity of the plan is whether it was posted on the Internet; if, on the other hand, it was not published on a central Internet portal of the federal state, such a procedural error is irrelevant in accordance with Section 214 (1) sentence 1 no. 2 e) BauGB.

In addition to the public display, the municipality shall obtain the opinions of the authorities and other public bodies whose remit may be affected by the planning on the draft plan and its explanatory statement (Section 4 (2) sentence 1 BauGB). The provision of the documents and the notification of this should take place electronically. These specialist bodies must generally submit their comments within one month, whereby the comment period may not be less than 30 days. The comments should be submitted electronically.

After the public display and the participation of the authorities, the municipality examines the suggestions from citizens and public bodies. In this procedural step, the municipality weighs up the affected interests among themselves and against each other and decides whether to adhere to the intended urban land-use planning or, if necessary, to amend or abandon it on the basis of suggestions and concerns. The environmental assessment must also be taken into account in the weighing up process.

Under certain conditions, the municipality can carry out a simplified procedure in accordance with Section 13 BauGB when amending and supplementing an urban land-use plan. This offers various simplifications in the preparation procedure, which the municipality can optionally make use of (Section 13 (2) BauGB). In addition, there is no obligation to carry out an environmental impact assessment (Section 13 (3) sentence 1 BauGB). Section 13a BauGB allows an accelerated procedure to be carried out under certain conditions when drawing up, supplementing or revoking development plans that are aimed at internal development measures. In addition to the procedural simplifications of Section 13 BauGB, it contains a number of other procedural simplifications (Section 13a (2) BauGB). No nature conservation compensation is required for development plans with a specified floor area of less than 20,000 square meters (Section 13a (2) no. 4 BauGB).

The provision of Section 13b BauGB on the application of the accelerated procedure in suburban areas was repealed as of 01.01.2024 due to its incompatibility with Union law as determined by the Federal Administrative Court (judgement of 18.07.2023 - ref. 4 CN 3.22). The "repair provision" of Section 215a BauGB was introduced on 01.01.2024. According to Section 215 (3) BauGB, the use of procedural simplifications through the corresponding application of Section 13a (2) no. 1 BauGB (waiver of early information and discussion) in conjunction with Section 13 (3) sentence 1 BauGB (waiver of environmental assessment) and Section 13a (2) no. 4 BauGB (waiver of nature conservation compensation) will in future require that the municipality, on the basis of a preliminary assessment of the individual case in accordance with Section 13a (1) sentence 2 no. 2 BauGB, comes to the conclusion that the development plan is not likely to have any significant environmental impacts that would have to be taken into account in the assessment in accordance with Section 2 (4) sentence 4 BauGB or that would have to be compensated for as impairments to the landscape or the performance and functionality of the ecosystem in accordance with Section 1a (3) BauGB.

Development plan procedures pursuant to Section 13b BauGB that were formally initiated before the expiry of 31.1.22022 can be completed in accordance with Section 215 (3) BauGB by applying Section 13a BauGB mutatis mutandis if the resolution on the articles of association pursuant to Section 10 (1) BauGB is adopted by the end of 31.12.2024.

If development plans that have already been drawn up in accordance with Section 13b BauGB are to be brought into force through a supplementary procedure in accordance with Section 214 (4) BauGB, Section 13a BauGB can be applied accordingly in accordance with Section 215 (3) BauGB. The resolution on the articles of association pursuant to Section 10 (1) BauGB must be adopted by the end of December 31, 2024.

The land use plan adopted by the municipality and certain development plans require approval before they come into force (see "Urban land use plans; approval" under "Related topics"). The granting of approval must be announced in the usual local manner. The land use plan becomes effective upon announcement of the approval and the development plan enters into force upon announcement of the approval (Section 10 (3) sentence 3 BauGB). Development plans that do not require approval enter into force upon publication of the final resolution on the articles of association. A summary statement on the way in which the environmental concerns and the results of the public and official participation have been taken into account in the urban land-use plan and the reasons why the plan was chosen after weighing up the planning alternatives must be attached to urban land-use plans that have been published (Sections 6a (1), 10a (1) BauGB). In addition to the published urban land-use plan and its explanatory statement, this summary statement should also be published on the Internet.

The land use plan and development plans as well as the aforementioned summary declaration can be viewed at the municipality.

In accordance with Section 6a (2) and Section 10a (2) BauGB, land use plans and development plans, together with the explanatory memorandum and the summary declaration, should also be posted on the Internet and made accessible via a central Internet portal of the federal state.