Testing the waters of coastal urbanization: contested projects on Corsica’s protected lands

ABSTRACT

In the wake of the decentralization reforms implemented in France in the early 1980s, the Coast Protection Act (‘loi littoral’) was enacted in 1986 to counterbalance the significant regulatory powers devolved through those reforms to local municipalities in matters of urban planning. The act’s purpose was to contain urban sprawl, especially in heretofore undeveloped and protected areas such as those found on the Corsican coastline. Many local officials protested that the act would freeze any development on vast tracts of land and become a hindrance to carrying out potentially lucrative tourism projects on the most attractive coastal frontage parcels. The inquiry draws on a statistical sample of 252 legal arguments put forward in 180 claims, which were filed in the Corsican Administrative Court during the 2004–2011 period. From a sociological perspective, we examine in this article the strategies behind litigation and the use of the administrative courts as a means to resolve conflicts that have arisen over the attempted development of protected coastal areas. Special attention is paid to disputes over proposed development projects against which claims have been filed by local inhabitants and state administrators with the intention of containing urban sprawl.

KEYWORDS:

• Conflicts
• urbanization
• environment
• litigation
• planning
• development

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. The average price of building plots in the department of Southern Corsica (all areas included) was 100,300 Euros in 2009 (approximately the same average recorded in the French departments of Gard and Vaucluse), that is, an average value three times superior to that observed in the department of Upper-Corsica (€66,900). Source: French Notarial database.

2. Approximately 1 permit applicant out of 5 present in the case sample (claimant or plaintiff) is a legal entity (property investment companies or business corporations), and 1 in 10 is a business corporation.

3. The municipalities which are the most concerned by the disputes are, respectively, Bonfiacio (39 cases), Porto-Vecchio (28), Coti-Chiavari (8), L'Ile-Rousse (7), Serra di Ferro (5) and Olmeto (4). The other municipalities are cited less than four times in the case sample.

4. Three quarters of Prefectoral referrals in the case sample involve Bonifacio, while 40% of appeals aiming to overturn a Prefectoral decision are located in Porto-Vecchio. The activity of the Prefect, both as a plaintiff and the author of contested decisions, is, thus, highly restricted to cases emanating from these two municipalities.

5. Pursuant to article L. 146-1 of the Planning Code.