Urban planning
The SCoT Sélestat Alsace centrale explained
A second urban planning document, distinct from the SCoTERS already analyzed on this site, governs part of the territory affected by Europa Valley: Sundhouse, the municipality directly within the project's land footprint, belongs to the CC du Ried de Marckolsheim, within the perimeter of this SCoT. It is currently in public inquiry until October 23, 2026 — and Europa Valley appears nowhere in it.
Ongoing procedure, unlike the already-approved SCoTERS. The public inquiry is open until October 23, 2026, 5pm. Anyone can submit a comment via the online register.
What is the SCoT Sélestat Alsace centrale?
A document distinct from the SCoTERS, covering Sundhouse.
A strategic planning document that also serves as a climate plan
The SCoT Sélestat Alsace centrale sets the orientations for urban planning, environment, mobility, economy and climate for its territory — it also serves as the territorial Climate-Air-Energy Plan (PCAET). It is a document entirely distinct from the SCoTERS already analyzed on this site: two different documents, two different inter-municipal bodies, but one shared protected ecosystem (the Ried, the Rhine valley) spanning both territories.
The territory
The SCoT covers 4 inter-municipal communities, grouped within a Rural and Territorial Balance Hub (PETR):
- CC Sélestat et Territoires — the structuring hub, 61% of the territory's jobs
- CC du Ried de Marckolsheim (CCRM) — includes Sundhouse, the municipality directly within the Europa Valley project's land footprint
- CC de la Vallée de Villé
- CC du Val d'Argent
That is 77,500 inhabitants (2020), 57,620 hectares (576.2 km²) and 27,412 jobs. The territory is overwhelmingly rural: 47% forests and semi-natural areas, 41% farmland, only 10% built-up areas.
Who decides?
The SCoT is carried by the PETR Sélestat Alsace Centrale (15 bd du Maréchal Leclerc, 67600 Sélestat), which has also been the territory's Mobility Organizing Authority since January 1, 2025.
Adopted for referral on December 11, 2025 — public inquiry from September 22 to October 23, 2026.
Procedure not yet complete: no public inquiry commissioner identified yet, no final approval yet. The environmental authority's (MRAe) opinion on file is broadly favorable, with numerous recommendations.
Europa Valley: total absence
Unlike the SCoTERS, the project is not even mentioned to be excluded.
An important difference from the SCoTERS
The SCoTERS explicitly mentioned Europa Valley in order to exclude it (page 559 of its justification of choices). Here — after a complete review of the file: strategic plan, orientation document, justification of choices, PPA opinions, consultation report — the project appears nowhere, neither mentioned, nor excluded, nor included.
The only mentions of "Europa" anywhere in the file concern the existing German park at Rust: as a factor of pressure on the housing market (Airbnb) in the Ried de Marckolsheim, and as a major cross-border employer (over 4,450 employees during the summer season). Nothing about a French project.
The flexibility clause (DOO, p.62) — comparable to the SCoTERS' Orientation 7.3
"Cultural, tourism and heritage activities that showcase non-relocatable local resources may, with justification, be exempted from location within the upper tiers of the urban hierarchy and from urban continuity requirements."
DOO, p.62
This clause sits in the economic development chapter, not the tourism chapter. It is a standard provision for small-scale rural tourism — farm inns, group accommodation, small hotels — not a mechanism designed for a 150-250 ha complex.
Unlike Orientation 7.3 of the SCoTERS, it does not list detailed cumulative conditions — which makes it look more flexible on paper. But its explicit scope (non-relocatable local resources, the scale of a farm inn) would make invoking it for a project the size of Europa Valley legally very fragile: an obvious misuse of the text's intent, easily demonstrable in court.
A point to watch, not an alarm bell
The diagnostic identifies a need for "qualitative improvement of the tourist accommodation offering" as an issue for the whole territory. This general conclusion — which aims at a diffuse rebalancing, not a mega-complex — could in theory be instrumentalized by a project developer to argue there is a "need." Nothing in the document points toward that kind of response, but it is worth keeping in mind.
Neither the PPA nor the public have raised the issue
Neither the MRAe and associated public bodies' opinion nor the report on the preliminary public consultation contain the slightest mention of Europa Valley. The topic is, for now, not part of this procedure's debate — the ground remains politically and legally untouched on this territory.
Land use constraints
An even stricter budget than the SCoTERS.
Net-zero land take: 126 hectares for 2021-2031
"This ceiling for 2021-2031 is 126 hectares. [...] land consumption already occurring on the territory between 2021 and the SCoT's approval date, not yet known, will be deducted from the 126 ha maximum envelope."
DOO, p.38 — SRADDET Rule 16, adopted December 12, 2024
| SCoT | Budget 2021-2030/2031 | Area | Density |
|---|---|---|---|
| SCoTERS (Strasbourg) | 740 ha | 868.7 km² | ≈0.85 ha/km²/decade |
| Sélestat Alsace centrale | 126 ha | 576.2 km² | ≈0.22 ha/km²/decade |
A land constraint roughly 4 times stricter, proportionally, than the SCoTERS over the same period. The precise breakdown of these 126 ha by inter-municipal area could not be extracted from the file (the table is an image) — but the document confirms a pooled envelope of only 20 ha over 20 years for the entire PETR, dedicated primarily to low-carbon industry.
Sundhouse in the urban hierarchy
Sundhouse belongs to the tier-4 relay hub ("Hilsenheim-Sundhouse-Wittisheim"), within a 5-tier hierarchy — a role as an interface between higher-tier hubs and surrounding villages, with accessibility classed as "low to moderate." The only economic activity zone in the municipality is the ZA Holzweg: 19 jobs, 8.1 hectares — a scale with no relation to a project of Europa Valley's magnitude.
Environmental protections
The same major ecological system, seen from the other SCoT.
Natura 2000 sites in the territory
By name, these sites very likely correspond to the same protected areas already documented in the SCoTERS analysis (FR codes are not repeated in this document — a strong presumption, not an absolute certainty).
Wetland of international importance (Ramsar)
The territory includes the Upper Rhine / Oberrhein wetland, classified under the Ramsar Convention, stretching roughly 166 km along the Rhine. The same protected ecosystem runs through both SCoT, administered by different inter-municipal bodies on either side — all the more reason neither planning document should leave a gap.
Mobility
An area structurally underserved by public transport.
The cross-border crossing at the Marckolsheim dam
An area barely served during off-peak hours
The diagnostic explicitly identifies the Ried de Marckolsheim municipalities not served by public transport as one of the territory's two zones where a significant share of the population has access to none, or only one, essential daily service. During off-peak hours, these municipalities are "virtually no longer served by regional buses."
This point is directly comparable to Criterion 1 of the SCoTERS' Orientation 7.3 — sufficient public transport access, a condition set for any "exceptional project." Should an equivalent flexibility mechanism ever be invoked here, this structural weakness would be an obstacle of the same nature.
Diffuse tourism, no mega-complex
Zero hotels in the CCRM, and a tourism vision built around local heritage.
The SCoT's tourism vision
"The SCoT aims to reconcile tourism development with the preservation of the natural, heritage and landscape resources that form the foundation of the territory's appeal."
DOO, p.110 — chapter "Developing sustainable, diverse and responsible tourism"
The "emblematic" tourist sites cited: Haut-Koenigsbourg castle, the wine route, the Monkey Mountain, the Eagle Centre, Tellure, Alsace Aventure, Cigoland, the Humanist Library. No mention of a large-scale hotel complex. The stated philosophy is one of tourism that is "diffuse, qualitative and integrated into existing built fabric" — the same logic as the SCoTERS' "green and diffuse tourism."
Existing tourist accommodation
The CC du Ried de Marckolsheim — which includes Sundhouse — has no hotel offering at all. A territory with no infrastructure of this kind, the opposite of what would be expected ahead of a 150-250 hectare hotel complex.
The SCoT's documents
The complete file (19 documents) is public and downloadable from the public inquiry's online register.
PAS — Strategic Development Plan
The strategic vision for the territory
DOO — Orientation and Objectives Document
Enforceable urban planning prescriptions
Explanation and justification of choices
No mention of Europa Valley — thoroughly checked
Diagnostic report
Economy, demographics, housing, tourism, mobility
Initial state of the environment
Natura 2000, Ramsar wetland, biodiversity
Opinions of the PPA, CDPENAF and MRAe
Broadly favorable, with reservations
Public consultation report
Europa Valley never raised by the public beforehand
Public inquiry file composition
Full index of all documents
The public inquiry is still open
Until October 23, 2026, 5pm, anyone can submit a comment on this SCoT — for instance, to ask that the tourism flexibility clause (DOO, p.62) can never be used to legitimize a project the size of Europa Valley.