Wildfire's Status- Set to Open!

[GuyWithAStick]

http://coasterhub.com/archives/18575

Wildfire at Kolmarden Permits Revoked, Currently SBNO

 OCTOBER 27, 2016MAC 0

Brace yourselves for this one.

According to Swedish news site svt.se, the Land and Environment Court in Norrkoping, Sweden, has decided to revoke the permits for the Wildfire roller coaster, in Kolmarden, Sweden. The site claims that “The Court believes that the ride raises so many questions that it should have been preceded by a detailed plan, which it has not done.”

Kolmarden is stating they followed the guidelines and restrictions for constructing the ride.

Kolmarden CEO Christer Fogelmarck said this in regard to the decision: “In cooperation with the authorities and the municipality received notice of how this process would go to the beginning. We have kept to it, and now we get a completely different answer.”

“The Court’s decision means technically to Kolmarden may need to tear down roller-coaster. It can however be avoided if Norrköping municipality, which first gave permission for the construction, prepare a detailed plan afterwards…  The Court believes that the impact of the ride is expected to have on the environment is likely to have a noticeable impact on the environment, including wildlife. Therefore, should the municipality has reviewed this in a detailed plan before building permits were approved. (svt.se)

As of right now, the fate of Wildfire is uncertain.

The ride officially opened to the public on June 28th, 2016, and is one of Rocky Mountain Construction’s best creations to date. To think that this ride has a very real possibility of being shut down permanently is a very disturbing thought.

Seriously, **** the Swedish government.

 

[TilenB]

Stupid country... I hope they'll manage to get around the problem, it would be a great shame to lose a coaster like this...

 

[tomahawk]

Oh hey, an environmental agency abusing power, let me act surprised.

But seriously, this is one of the most ridiculous things I have ever heard in my life. It's not like they didn't have to jump through a million hoops to build it, since it was put on hold initially after announcing and given a long announcement period, and now this? Sure let's spend tens of millions of dollars doing environmental research, impact reports, construction, marketing, etc. only to have them say, "Eh. **** you." After signing off?

If it quacks like a duck, sits like a duck, and **** like a duck, it's probably a big heaping dose of corrupt government agencies looking for more money.

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[jayjay]

A rather less sensationalist article (Swedish):

http://www.folkbladet.se/nyheter/norrko ... 56681.aspx

Rough translation:

KOLMÅRDEN decision on Wildfires be or not to be is decidedly in the Land and Environmental Court which on Thursday announced the decision.

The decision can be read that the Land and Environmental Court establishes the County Administrative Board in Östergötland decision of 26 February 2015 to abolish the municipality of Norrköping building permits from 8 October 2014. This means that Wildfire is without a building permit and is regarded as a black building.

That's right, it requires a detailed plan, says Mårten Tagaeus, the zoo's attorney.

Now waiting for the municipality to hear of charge from Kolmarden Zoo on how they intend to do.
Most likely, they will want to have a plane clearance to proceed with a detailed plan as a basis for a new building permit, says Reidar Svedahl, president of construction and environmental committee.

Is there åkförbud with Wildfire now?

It's a reasonable tolknig of judgment that you can not have it running.

Will you ensure that Wildfire demolished?

It is very important that everyone is treated the same way, the same laws apply to Kolmarden Zoo as for individuals who built without a building permit. It is likely that we will ask them to remove Wildfire, says Reidar Svedahl.

At the same time he says that the municipality will do everything to help Kolmarden Zoo when it comes to developing a new zoning plan. But it is unlikely that it will be appealed to the provincial government. It will take several years, the new plan may be adopted and approved in all instances?

No, not for years, it will go much faster, says Reidar Svedahl.

Christer Fogelmarck, acting president of Kolmarden Zoo is disappointed by the decision.

We had hoped for a different outcome, but we are well prepared for the different scenarios. Before we know how we should proceed, we will now put us into the reasons for the decision. Then we hit the municipality to evaluate our options.

Our intention with the Wildfire was that more people would discover and share our passion for Kolmarden and the amazing park as it actually is. We are a family business that reinvest every penny of profit and need long-term stable conditions to be able to continue to invest in our parks, says Christer Fogelmarck.

 

[davidm]

^ less sensationalist?

"It is likely that we will ask them to remove Wildfire, says Reidar Svedahl"

Small minded local politics in action here I think. Silly Reidar Svedahl.

 

[jayjay]

^ I meant, it actually reads like a news article, they've talked to the people and doesn't start with "brace yourselves for this one."

 

[Lofty]

It won't be removed, worst case scenarios is that it has amendments to appease them. The Swedish government will not want to piss off Parks & Resorts Scandanavia considering the amount of tourism and income they bring into the country.

 

[Ian]

They won't tear it down. It seems similar to the problem that Paultons had with Cobra and Edge several years ago. Some local arsehole has found a technicality breach and is trying to spoil the fun. Common sense will prevail and proper permits etc will be retrospectively granted and the people of Sweden, nay the world, can continue to enjoy Europe's only RMC.

Paramount London is more likely to happen than Wildfire being torn down.No need to panic.

 

[spicy]

Yea sounds like a typical case of an environmental agency employee that has too much time on their hands, with their own self importance getting in the way of rational thinking leading them to abusing their power.

Swedish government should be encouraging great investment in tourism like this not punishing them for it.

 

[davidm]

Sounds like a real political mess ; park builds something as they are told by the local municipal authority that they can without a "detailed plan", then someone appeals to some other body who say they need a "detailed plan".

Some stories here (run it through Google translate / Chrome's translate for the non-Swedes);
Wildfire is closed until further notice http://www.nt.se/nyheter/norrkoping/bes ... 57603.aspx
Wildfire: A municipal splendor scandal http://www.nt.se/asikter/ledare/wildfir ... 56994.aspx
Mixed views on Wildfire judgment http://www.nt.se/nyheter/norrkoping/bla ... 57354.aspx
Wildfire gets rid of (loses?) the building permit http://www.nt.se/nyheter/domen-wildfire ... 56279.aspx

 

[DelPiero]

Kolmarden's site has some info too, not the greatest translation - original here - http://www.kolmarden.com/blog/128

Wildfire closed until further notice
Published Friday 28th October 2016 at 06:14

Yesterday, news came from the Land and Environmental Court that a detailed plan for the roller coaster Wildfire. This means that the existing building permit revoked and therefore Wildfire closed until further notice.



- We had hoped for a different outcome, but we are well prepared for the different scenarios. Before we know how we should proceed, we will now put us into the reasons for the decision. Then we hit the municipality to evaluate our options, says Christer Fogelmarck, acting CEO of Kolmarden.
Read more in the press release



Background
In April 2014 Kolmarden announced plans to build a roller coaster of wood with the estimated premiere season in 2016. In October 2014 granted the construction and environmental protection committee planning application for the course, Wildfire. Interested parties, which consists mainly of local residents, appealed the decision. In December 2014 stopped the county government building to investigate if zoning was needed, and Kolmarden interrupted thereby preparatory earthworks for the runway. In February 2015 lifted the provincial government building permit and demanded that a detailed plan would be drawn up before the decision on the building permit could be taken. In March 2015 the County Administrative Board appealed the decision to the Land and Environment Court gave Kolmarden right thing. Then chose the party concerned to appeal against the above decision to the Land and Environmental Court. Wildfire was inaugurated 28 June 2016. Today, the Land and Environmental Court announced that zoning is required. Thus terminated the building permit.


common questions and answers
What happens now?
We will put ourselves in order to then together with the municipality to see what options we face.

Wildfire will be open during Halloween?
No. Wildfire will remain closed until further notice.

When will Wildfire to open again?
We can not currently say when we can open Wildfire back.

Must Wildfire demolished?
We will do everything we can for it not to happen.

Why did you not produced a detailed plan from the start?
We have followed the directives that we received from the relevant authorities and then told us to apply for planning permission, which we did and which was granted.

 

[Snoo]

Still nutty this is happening. Would be insane if it had to be torn down. Glad I rode it this year.

 

[spicy]

Oh god imagine the bragging rights of everyone that has the cred if it actually does get torn down :lol:

 

[Hyde]

While not familiar with the Swedish judicial system, the park will certainly be granted due process and opportunity to address the concern. Finding a lack of permitting after the fact simply reflects poor government oversight and authority.

Someone has also formed a petition on Change.org: https://www.change.org/p/kolmarden-perm ... m=copylink

 

[Sythe]

I am personally enraged at this. I still don't really understand the situation. Can someone explain to me why they have the right to do this? And will Kolmarden get any of their money back if it is torn down?
I just can't see why ANYONE would do something like this. It makes me very angry... And to think that this is where the Swedes' 57% income tax money goes...
#RMClivesmatter

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[gavin]

C**ts. That's all.

 

[ThomVD]

Incredibly sad news. I'm still convinced that they will fix it somehow, but if they don't it will be a dark day in the enthusiast history. Has it ever happened before that one of the best coasters on the planet got demolished for any reason? I'm just really glad I rode it ten times when I visited.

 

[Hyde]

The kicker? The permit revocation is on the basis of environmental permitting. The biggest concern with environmental permits is impact of a structure once erected and the process for building it - all of which has already occurred. Demolishing this roller coaster would actually pose a greater environmental threat at this point than letting it remain standing, which is the entire cause for concern in the first place. Not to mention the boom a large attraction like this will cause in boosted tourism, which benefits the local economy. (Speaking as someone who grew up in a State county with tourism as the #1 employer)

This is an instance of an inept government agency trying to cover it's tracks after the fact, willing to pose more harm to the environment it is meant to protect due to an error that happened under their watch. Very short-sighted and ill thought; I hope the local municipality helps Kolmarden in their defense and sees things straight.

 

[CrashCoaster]

If wildfire closes and gets demolished, then it would be one of the worst days in the coaster industry, if not the worst.

 

[Sythe]

I looked up wildfire earlier and this is what I got...

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