Zurich voters say no to the riverside path initiative
Published: Sunday, Mar 3rd 2024, 17:10
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In the canton of Zurich, there will still be no continuous lakeside path on Lake Zurich in the future. Zurich voters rejected the lakeshore initiative with 64.03 percent of votes against.
There were 339,540 "no" votes against only 190,752 "yes" votes. The turnout was 57.8 percent. The lakeshore initiative wanted to oblige the canton to build continuous, public lakeshore paths on Lake Zurich and other bodies of water in the canton.
The proponents argued that freely accessible bodies of water and near-natural riverside paths have a unique appeal. Their importance is increasing in view of population growth and urban densification.
According to the opponents, however, the construction of a lakeside path would only be possible with a "massive encroachment on private property". The costs of 350 to 650 million francs - a large part for land acquisition and compensation - would be disproportionate.
"No riverside path with a crowbar"
Carmen Walker Späh (FDP), the member of the Zurich government responsible for the initiative, expressed her delight at the rejection. "But a 'no' to this initiative is not a 'no' to riverside paths," she said at a media conference. The cantonal government nevertheless wants to continue to expand and improve access to the riverbank.
However, the electorate had recognized that there was a historically evolved situation on Lake Zurich with a lakeside road and railroad. What the ancestors had built there could be seen as good or bad. "But the voters don't want a lakeside path with a crowbar."
©Keystone/SDA
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