Urban planning & land use
The SCoTERS explained
The Strasbourg Regional Territorial Coherence Plan sets the urban planning rules through 2050. Approved unanimously in December 2025, it did not include Europa Valley and imposes major constraints on any project of this scale.
What is the SCoTERS?
The urban planning document that governs the territory's future.
The strategic planning document
The SCoTERS (Schéma de Cohérence Territoriale de la Région de Strasbourg — Strasbourg Regional Territorial Coherence Plan) is the document that sets the broad guidelines for urban planning, the environment, mobility, and the economy for the territory through 2050. All local land-use plans (PLU, PLUi), housing programs, and transportation plans must be compatible with its orientations. It is the master framework that all local urban planning decisions must comply with.
The scope
The SCoTERS covers 4 inter-municipal authorities:
- Eurométropole de Strasbourg — the metropolitan core
- CC du Canton d'Erstein — including Diebolsheim and Sundhouse
- CC du Kochersberg
- CC du Pays de la Zorn
This represents over half the population of the Bas-Rhin department, 285,253 jobs (60% of the department), and the largest employment hub in the Grand Est region.
Who decides?
The SCoTERS is managed by a joint authority bringing together the 4 inter-municipal bodies, chaired by Pia Imbs. The joint committee has 30 full members and 30 substitutes. The document was prepared with technical support from ADEUS (the Strasbourg urban planning agency).
Approved unanimously on December 15, 2025 — submitted to the prefecture on December 18, 2025.
Public inquiry commissioner Benoit Matot: favorable opinion with 4 reservations, all lifted. No unfavorable opinions from any associated public bodies.
Europa Valley excluded from the SCoTERS
The project was identified then removed during the drafting process.
Documented proof of exclusion
In the official document "Justification of PAS/DOO choices" (page 559), the "Europa Park Project and its road link" appeared as item #10 out of 12 key issues identified in ADEUS preparatory work in 2019.
"The elements of this work evolved between 2020 and 2023: not all were retained during the PAS debate (March 2023)."
This is the official proof that the Europa Valley project was identified and then deliberately excluded from the SCoTERS.
View the source document (PDF, p.559)Orientation 7.3 — a door ajar but locked
The DOO provides a framework for "exceptional projects of a structuring nature, by definition unknown at this time." This is the only provision that could theoretically accommodate Europa Valley. But it imposes 8 cumulative conditions:
A 60-250 hectare complex on farmland in a Natura 2000 zone, with no public transport access, would fail on virtually all of these criteria.
The SCoTERS environmental assessment itself acknowledges that this orientation generates "negative impacts on biodiversity, soil quality, and the environment" (p.499).
Protections strengthened during approval
Between the draft and the approval of the SCoTERS, several protections were tightened — at the request of the DDT (Departmental Planning Authority), the MRAe (Regional Environmental Authority), the public inquiry commissioner, and Alsace Nature:
Removal of the "general interest" concept
previously used to justify projects in major ecological habitats
Strengthened ERC principle
"avoidance must take priority and proof of no alternative must be required"
Strategic sectors regulated
can no longer disrupt the urban framework and must justify the needs
Non-transferable land allocations
impossible to divert "climate adaptation" land toward economic development
The land use constraint
The ZAN (Zero Net Artificialization) envelope makes Europa Valley arithmetically impossible.
Zero Net Artificialization trajectory
| Period | SCoTERS total | Canton of Erstein | Reduction |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2012-2021 (baseline) | 1,059 ha | 145 ha | — |
| 2021-2030 | 740 ha max | 103 ha | -30% |
| 2031-2040 | 420 ha max | — | -60% |
| 2041-2050 | 250 ha max | — | -77% |
| Total 2021-2050 | 1,410 ha | 242 ha |
What this means for Europa Valley
of the Canton of Erstein's 30-year allocation — for phase 1 alone (60 ha)
of the allocation if the project reaches full size (250 ha) — nothing left for other municipalities
of the entire SCoTERS allocation — for a single private project
In 2024, fewer than 24 ha of available commercial land remain in the entire SCoTERS area. Craftspeople, SMEs, and families in the territory are already struggling to find land. But we would find 60 to 250 hectares for the Mack family?
Diebolsheim: the wrong location
In the SCoTERS urban hierarchy, Diebolsheim is classified as "Villages outside the metropolis" — the lowest level (level 3) of the territorial hierarchy, with a minimum density of 25 dwellings per hectare. This classification means the municipality is not intended to host a structuring metropolitan facility. Land allocations are also not fungible between inter-municipal bodies: the Canton of Erstein cannot "borrow" land from the Eurometropolis.
Environmental protections
The Ried is one of Europe's most protected sites.
5 Natura 2000 sites within the SCoTERS territory
What the SCoTERS prescribes
Natura 2000 sites
Mandatory classification as N zone (natural)
Remarkable wetlands
Protected from all urbanization
Protected forests
Non-buildable (Diebolsheim listed)
Ecological corridors
Protected from all new urbanization
Flood zones
Non-buildable (except PPRi exceptions)
Setback zone
30 m non-buildable buffer around waterways and forest edges
The Ried according to the SCoTERS
The Ried is described as "one of the largest wetland areas in Western Europe" in the SCoTERS environmental assessment.
The territory between Diebolsheim and Sundhouse combines: Natura 2000 (SPA directly bordering), Ramsar site, remarkable wetlands, protected forests, ecological corridors, and flood zones. A stack of protections that makes any project involving massive land artificialization legally very difficult — as demonstrated by the Roybon precedent.
Mobility gridlocked
Roads are already saturated and the SCoTERS forbids building new ones.
Current situation
What the SCoTERS prohibits
"Road network improvements must not enhance or increase the automotive capacity of the radial access to the Strasbourg metropolitan area."
Orientation 20.1 of the DOO
"No creation of new European or national-level transit roads."
The "Europa Park road link" identified in the 2019 preparatory work was excluded along with the project itself. The Canton of Erstein is classified as having "medium" to "constrained" multimodal accessibility. No public transport is planned to serve the Europa Valley site.
Tourism already works
The SCoTERS focuses on green, distributed tourism — not a mega-resort.
The SCoTERS tourism vision
"Sustain the cultural, leisure, and tourism offering across the entire territory and in complementarity with neighboring territories. This concerns both green tourism (cycling, mountain areas, etc.) and urban tourism."
PAS, section 7.1
Not a word about EUR 387 million hotel complexes. Agritourism is even strictly regulated: it "must not transform the purpose of the farm into a tourism and leisure purpose" (Orientation 15.2).
Tourism in numbers — it already works
increase in tourism jobs in Alsace since 2018
tourism jobs in Alsace (2022)
increase in Airbnb listings in the Bas-Rhin
visitors to Strasbourg museums (2023, record)
The Canton of Erstein has only 7 hotels and 422 bed-places. A massive hotel complex in the Ried does not address any need identified by the SCoTERS territorial diagnostic, but would instead directly compete with local guesthouses, B&Bs, and accommodation providers in the area.
SCoTERS documents
All documents are public and available for download on scoters.org.
PAS — Strategic Development Plan
The strategic vision for the territory through 2050
DOO — Orientation and Objectives Document
Enforceable urban planning prescriptions
Approval resolution
Unanimous vote of December 15, 2025
Public inquiry commissioner's opinion
Favorable opinion with 4 reservations (all lifted)
Justification of PAS/DOO choices
Contains proof that Europa Valley was excluded (p.559)
Environmental assessment
Impacts on biodiversity and soils
Mobility diagnostic
M35 saturated, 2.21 million trips/day
Economic diagnostic
Europa-Park mentioned p.356, MackNeXT p.363
Land consumption analysis
Detailed ZAN trajectory by inter-municipal area
Modifications from draft to approval
Strengthened environmental protections (ERC, Natura 2000)
The SCoTERS protects our territory
But this protection is not permanent. The project's backers will seek to amend the SCoT to include Europa Valley. Let's stay vigilant and informed.