Can the future aquatic center in this town on the outskirts of Paris be delivered in time to allow athletes to train there, a few weeks before the Olympics?
The Paris Administrative Court of Appeal on Wednesday put a new brake on this project with an ultra-tight schedule by ordering the "immediate" stoppage of the work, almost a month after having judged that it did not respect certain town planning provisions.
Plaine commune, the structure which brings together nine municipalities including Aubervilliers, chaired by the mayor (PS) of Saint-Denis Mathieu Hanotin, is ordered to review its local urban plan, modified to build the infrastructure on a car park and a few plots of adjoining centuries-old gardens.
The municipality of Aubervilliers, project manager, indicated that this court decision was the subject of an “analysis” and that it would not communicate before a “common position” is found between the different parties.
The excavators were stopped on the site Thursday morning, noted an AFP journalist.
A meeting between the opponents and the municipality, which was to be held in the afternoon, was postponed by the city.
"Biodiversity"
The disappearance of part of this enclave of greenery at the foot of the towers crystallized the opposition of certain gardeners, activists and local environmental associations. It has become a symbol of the "concreting" which suffocates urban areas, in reverse according to them to the ecological emergency.
Not opposed to the swimming pool itself, they criticize its annexes - solarium, mineral beach - which must encroach on 4.000 m2 of food plots - already destroyed by the works - on the 2,5 hectares (25.000 m2) of the site.
Administrative justice has validated other projects related to the Olympics such as the Media Village in Dugny, on the borders of a departmental park, or the creation of a motorway interchange near a school in Saint-Denis. But this time she has changed her tone.
"These works, by their nature, are likely to cause consequences that are difficult to reverse on the Vertus garden plots even though it is a primary core of biodiversity", estimated the judge in chambers in the order issued. Wednesday.
This is the second time in six months that the construction site has been interrupted by court order.
It had already been interrupted briefly from September to November 2021 for a dispute over the building permit, which the city had to modify. This part must still be judged on the merits.
The project is actually a sea serpent that has been spawning for a long time in the boxes of the town hall.
Aubervilliers dreamed of since 2005, while Paris, which hoped to win the Olympics in 2012, had assured him that it would have its aquatic center. A godsend for this popular city which lacks pools for learning to swim.
On the carpet
The project, finally calibrated as a training site then returned to the inhabitants, was finally put on track in 2017, under the leadership of Mériem Derkaoui, the mayor (PCF) at the time.
From the first legal appeals, however, the Paris-2024 organizing committee, led by Tony Estanguet, explained that if the swimming pool did not see the light of day, another training site would be found. He reaffirmed that position on Thursday.
But then what about the some 10 million euros that Solideo is supposed to invest in the aquatic center, or a third of the budget? The company responsible for the Olympic works "is studying the consequences on the calendar" of the judgment, she told AFP.
"The question of maintaining the aquatic center project as it is, as well as its financial support by the Olympic Games, is clearly posed," said the collective for the defense of the gardens.
As for the county council, it supports the creation of an additional swimming pool in Seine-Saint-Denis but refrains from expressing itself further on this imbroglio.
Especially since other clouds are gathering over the department, which must urgently find a solution for the Terrain des Essences, where the Olympic shooting events would be too cramped.