OCR Text |
Show the poorest and most remote corners of land. Areas bought en bloc were subdivided, designated as construction sites, and parcels sold at truly high connoisseurs' prices. The " construction sites" also included avalanche areas. But the buyers for the most part did not come from local areas and many were even foreigners. These people hardly ever noticed the serious drawback of their " piece of building land", or noticed it only after it was too late. The situation of the construction land and real estate markets in the best- known vacation resorts can best be shown if we recall the measure against land speculation which, among other things, led to the " Mandatory Permission for the Acquisition of Land Parcels by Foreign Persons." The " sell- off of the homeland" was widespread in i960. For instance, the Senate of the Grisons took up this matter. In the session of 27 May 1961 a member of the Senate declared: " Foreigners own 71 parcels of land in Davos, 69 in St. Moritz and 99 in Arosa." In the 13 September I960 session of the Senate of the Canton of Berne, Senator Gertsch inquired about which communities had avalanche zoning plans and which courts were competent to draw up and approve these plans. The reply was that not a single community of the canton had a finished plan. On 29 May 1962, Senator 0. Largiader from Pontresina posed a pariimentary question concerning protection against avalanche damage. This reads as follows: " As a consequence of the current construction boom, vacation homes in some communities are being built without consideration and foresight in avalanche paths. The 17 June 1952 Guidelines of the Federal Department of the Interior concerning afforestation and defense structure projects in avalanche hazard zones contained certain instructions designed to insure when possible in the future that lives and property were kept free of avalanche danger. In this same regulation, among other things the preparation of avalanche cadasters and zoning plans was required. The communities were also held responsible for suppressing construction planning in endangered areas. The most honorable Council is requested to impart information about who in the canton of the Grisons is responsible and ready to prepare these avalanche zoning plans. Does not the government accept the interpretation, that the required precautionary measures should be accorded more importance?" We have taken a notice from the Neue Zurcher Zeitung of 3 November 1962, which is captioned " Expensive Vacation Homes are Built in Avalanche Paths". The notice reads as follows: " Chur, 2 November. The Council of the Grisons must presently act on the following: A scarcity of land suitable for construction has become apparent, especially in certain well- known resorts. This has led to the sale of avalanche hazard zones as construction sites. Furthermore, during the past summer numerous vacation homes have been erected on terrain which is not safe from avalanches." The extent of construction activity in such resorts can be measured by the example of Davos ( 1950 permanent population: 10,500), for which the following figures on new housing starts have been taken from the newspaper |