Pay cost reimbursement contribution for compensation measures

Construction measures often constitute interventions in nature and the landscape. This is particularly the case if they change the shape or use of land and thus significantly impair the performance and functionality of the ecosystem or the landscape (Section 14 (1) of the Federal Nature Conservation Act - BNatSchG).

The perpetrators of an encroachment are obliged under Section 15 (1) and (2) BNatSchG to

• to refrain from causing avoidable damage to nature and the landscape and
• to compensate for unavoidable impairments with nature conservation and landscape management measures (compensatory measures) or to replace them (replacement measures).

However, this does not apply to projects that are within the scope of a development plan (Section 18 (2) BNatSchG).

For this reason, the impact regulation in accordance with the BNatSchG must be taken into account as early as the urban land-use planning stage and ecological compensation must be created elsewhere for the sealing of open spaces in favor of residential or commercial development, for example. The expected interventions in nature and the landscape must be presented and assessed in the urban land-use plan. It is usually necessary to define compensatory and replacement measures to offset the resulting impact on nature and the landscape. Compensatory measures can be, for example, the planting/sowing of shrubs, herbs and grasses, the renaturation of still and flowing waters or measures to recharge the groundwater.

If these compensatory measures are not stipulated on the properties on which interventions in nature and the landscape are to be expected, but elsewhere, the municipality should carry them out instead of and at the expense of the project developers or the owners of the properties and also provide the areas required for this, unless this is ensured in another way (Section 135a (2) BauGB). In this case, a cost reimbursement amount is charged to cover the expenses incurred for the implementation of the measures.

The reimbursable expenses are determined according to the actual costs incurred.

Reimbursable expenses include the costs for

• the acquisition and transfer of use as well as the clearing of the land for the compensatory measure,
• the compensatory measure including its planning, completion and development maintenance.

The reimbursable expenses are allocated to the properties to which the compensatory measure is assigned.

None

The amount of the reimbursement to be settled depends on the type of measure and its production costs. The reimbursable expenditure is

1. divided by the permitted floor area of the properties assigned by the development plan and
2. multiplied by the individual permitted floor areas of the properties.

The result is the cost reimbursement amount per property.

Statutes of the municipality or city

The obligation to reimburse costs arises upon completion of the compensatory measure, but at the earliest as soon as the land on which the interventions are to be expected may be used for construction or commercial purposes.