Nenzing agrarian community raffles ten plots for holiday huts

The Agrarian Community of Nenzing is raffling ten plots for holiday huts in the Nenzinger Himmel, an alpine pasture and holiday settlement in the upper Gamperdona valley, ORF Vorarlberg reports. Only full members of the community may enter.

No new holiday homes have been built there for about 30 years. The last plots were raffled in 1990, and the most recent hut was completed in 1996. Construction stopped because there was no solution for wastewater disposal, said Johannes Maier, chair of the Agrarian Community of Nenzing.

The municipality of Nenzing is due to begin building a sewer system next spring. The system is now required following stricter provisions in Austria’s Water Rights Act. Maier said it would make capacity available for additional huts. The community estimates that 27 new huts could be built in total, but is releasing plots for ten for now, leaving decisions on the remaining possibilities to a later generation.

The plots are in Löchera, the newer part of the settlement, and the land will remain owned by the agrarian community. Applicants must pay a 50,000-euro deposit and provide bank confirmation that they can raise 250,000 euros for construction. The huts must be completed by October 2030.

Under the community’s statutes, full members must live in Kirchdorf, Nenzing. Buying or receiving a hut as a gift is also restricted to full members. An exception applies to people who inherit a hut from a parent or partner: they do not need full membership, but must have a registered address in the European Economic Area.

The Nenzinger Himmel has about 160 holiday homes at an altitude of around 1,360 metres. Its 16-kilometre access road is closed to cars without authorisation, and bicycles are prohibited. Visitors can reach the settlement on foot or by taxi bus. Maier said the community wanted to preserve the place and had no infrastructure to accommodate more visitors.