On 21/03/2024 Sunnmørsposten had an article about the Sula gondola. The background was that there had been a meeting between the State Administrator/Sula municipality and Nordplan about the objections that the State Administrator has to the gondola plans.
Meeting about the Sula gondola in Molde: – Positive clarifications
In the report, readers get the impression that the majority of politicians in Sula want a gondola. That is only partially true. Both Høyre and FRP say yes to the gondola under given conditions.
When these parties are to make a decision in this matter, they must take into account that the Supreme Court has said that the construction of the gondola on Voss violated private property rights. The developer was ordered to pay compensation to those affected. This means that a yes to a gondola on Sula will result in the same offense happening again. The politicians must therefore consciously break with a judgment handed down in the Supreme Court.
Here it is not appropriate to say that Flakk Gruppen must pay compensation to those affected. The offense is and will be just as serious.
Another important topic is property rights. Whoever is to register something in Sula municipality must initially own the land on which it is to be built. Alternatively, you can have a binding agreement with the landowner on the purchase of land, if the building project applied for is approved.
As of today, Flakk Gruppen does not own the land they want to build on. They also have no binding agreement with the landowners. Flakk Gruppen sent a letter to around 30 landowners earlier this year. There they write that if they do not reach an agreement with all the landowners, they will ask Sula municipality to expropriate the land following an approved development plan.
Flakk Gruppen has also made an offer to those who have properties in a belt of 40 meters from the center line of the gondola route. The offer does not take into account what the cost will be for the individual by moving, and then re-establishing himself in a similar home that he had. As long as there is no agreement between the home owners and the developer, expropriation can quickly occur here as well.
Had a closed gondola meeting for the yes people
Sula municipality also has a municipal council resolution from 20 October 2022. The resolution states that it is not appropriate to use the Cable Car Act alone, when looking at who is affected by the gondola. The municipal board wants a survey of properties in a larger area. The big question then becomes whether this decision has been followed up? In any case, the offer from Flakk Gruppen does not seem to reflect that such an assessment has been made.
The state administrator is also crystal clear in his feedback on the gondola case. The conclusion from the State Administrator states, among other things, the following: “We cannot see that it is possible to resolve these points of conflict if the plans for a gondola to Rundehornet are kept.”
Sula municipality is responsible for land expropriation, if they agree to this project. The municipality must therefore bear all the burden regarding the court cases that may arise afterwards. Flakk Gruppen can just sit back and watch it all from its offices in Ålesund. They have no responsibility for what happens.
In other words, the facts that are on the table as of today should be more than enough to have ended this case a long time ago.
