This case will remain a textbook example: How to block a project with the ensuing economic consequences for which no one will take responsibility.
It already happened with the Gare du Sud project, and now we find ourselves in the same situation with the installation of the Ikea store and the associated real estate project.
The method is simple: create an association in the name of some sacred right, find a few administrative loopholes, generate media buzz, and that’s it…
Shouldn’t the law be strengthened so that opponents of such projects have genuine legitimacy to do so and are not just simple associations, sometimes constituted ad hoc?
The commercial complex of nearly 50,000 square meters, including an IKEA store, as well as nine buildings for housing, offices, and shops, will indeed be established in the Var plain in Nice, not far from the Allianz Riviera stadium. Ikea hopes to establish in Nice by 2021.
Specializing in defending small retailers against big box stores, the association “En toute franchise,” which opposed this project located in the Var plain, in Nice One, next to the Allianz Riviera stadium, has decided to withdraw its appeal before the Council of State.
Last March, the association’s request against the building permit granted in September 2016 was rejected by the Marseille administrative court of appeal. As a result, the association was dismissed and ordered to pay the costs.
Moral of the story: Local authorities, developers, users, construction companies, and IKEA, of course, everyone will have lost.
