Commercial areas in Altenkirchen (Westerwald), Landkreis

Definition of Commercial areas in Germany

According to the German law (BauNVO), mainly commercial operations with low environmental pollution and little noise and odor nuisance are located in an industrial park.

The definition of a commercial area is described in Germany in the Building Use Ordinance (BauNVO). This regulates the structural use of properties and their construction. Commercial areas were originally designated in order to minimize the disruptive effects of businesses (noise, smell, hazards) on apartments. According to the BauNVO, commercial operations with low environmental pollution and little noise and odor nuisance are predominantly located in a commercial area, for example:

• Non-disruptive trades
• Administration building
• Business and office buildings
• Warehouses and places
• Cultural, social, sports facilities
• Gas stations

The orientation values ​​of DIN 18005 are used to determine whether a trade is to be classified as "disruptive":

• 65 dB during the day
• 55 dB at night

In exceptional cases, apartments, e.g. B. a house or flats belonging to the company for supervisors and on-call staff, as well as facilities for church, cultural, social and health purposes and places of entertainment can be approved. A business park that has been developed by a single operator exclusively for commercial use is often referred to as a business park.

With regard to the development of new industrial areas, municipalities and regional planning authorities must ensure that they use as little space as possible. However, since there are no official statistics on the use of designated commercial space and the area designations have been subsidized by the state, especially in East Germany, there is currently an oversupply of commercial space in Germany.