Matt from Mountain Base explains the recent meeting attended by Eric Fournier, Mayor of Chamonix, about plans for re-zoning Avalanche Risk areas in the Chamonix Valley.
Matt tells us;
The last Chamonix Avalanche zoning document (PPRA) was approved in March 2010, but a panel of experts has been reviewing this since 2013. The panel's findings were presented to the Mayor on the 28th April 2014 and the proposed changes may adversely affect as many as 16% of the population of Chamonix and Argentière. As such, the mayor is calling upon the French authorities not to enforce any disproportionate constraints and expenses on owners due to over-zoning in areas where it is not necessary.
To take an example - if you have a house built in the zone 'blanche' which then turns into a zone 'bleu dure' you may be required to carry out various works to protect the house. This obviously costs owners money and can affect the sell-ability of the property and ultimately its value.
Obviously it is very important to protect ourselves and the town against avalanches, but let's hope they don't over do it just to cover themselves!
We'll keep you posted when we hear more...
