Protest – hanging game at Alois-Harbeck-Platz – Fürstenfeldbruck

It has been clear for some time that the demolition excavator will not be rolling in the summer. The new building in Alois-Harbeck-Platz in the center of Puchheim will be postponed until at least next spring. The city council must first decide on the objections to the main project, the termination of the contract between the municipality and the property owner has not yet been completed. Nothing has changed in the plans, about 60 trees will have to be cut down, 50 parking spaces will be created.

The tenants and shopkeepers of the spacious complex moved long ago, and the artists temporarily found a place to stay on the Landezeile in front of Allinger Strasse. Originally, the demolition and renovation work was supposed to start this summer, but it was already clear in the fall of 2020 that it would take longer. Owner Laura Steber of Dr. Harbeck & Stieber GmbH & Co. KG.

In October, the city council, which unanimously supports the project, must decide on the objections of citizens and associations, then the schemes will again be publicly presented. The development plan can be adopted in the spring, says Mayor Norbert Seidl (SPD). Then the construction order follows, it is supplied with all possible reports, for example on fire and flood protection, and the city council will then have to approve the main project. Before that, Stieber could start demolishing and clearing trees before the breeding season started, because they didn’t need a permit to do so, Seidl says. “Nothing has changed in the plans,” explains SZ’s Stieber.

This is exactly the problem, many citizens find the project huge, as it turned out at a meeting in the fall. The Conservation Union summarized its objections in six pages. “In the areas of traffic, species, and climate protection in particular, we see significant shortcomings in current planning,” District President Eugenie Scherb and Local Council Chair Jennifer Getzreiter wrote.

Six new buildings will be built in Alois-Harbeck-Platz with a hotel, grocery store, shops, restaurants and apartments. A 1,200 square meter supermarket will be built on Allinger Strasse. Above that, four floors will be built each with four apartments, some with rooftop terraces. A hotel apartment is being constructed in two new three- and five-storey buildings, where people can live and work for a while. A seven-storey building was planned at the corner of the railway line and the street. Only the existing six-storey house with 44 apartments at the rear of the yard will be preserved and will be actively renovated.

Bund Naturschutz complains that too much space is closed off and lacks planning alternatives and needs analysis for suppliers and hotels on a full scale. Puchheim is already “optimally” equipped with retailers of the full range. An additional volume of over 1,250 car trips can be expected each day, which means more noise, tire and brake wear and more greenhouse gas emissions. Pedestrian and cyclist safety is getting worse, especially for many schoolchildren. The Conservation Union therefore considers it doubtful that a daycare center is being planned in the northern region. The layout of a total of 271 parking spaces enhances vehicular traffic and interferes with traffic turns.

More soil will be closed at the site, and 65 trees will have to be cut down for the parking spaces, including about 50-year-old maples and hornbeams, which are important for biodiversity. The breeding of at least 32 species of birds and their habitats are threatened with extinction. More car exhaust fumes and fewer trees means ‘ignoring’ climate law.

In addition, the Union for the Conservation of Nature criticizes the fact that the terms in the draft development plan regarding energy supply and greening are “consistently ambiguous”. The passive house standard and block type thermal power plant must be repaired and roofs and facades greened. Perceived glass facades, which cause the rooms behind to warm up, should be checked for climate suitability.

So far there is no indication that the client or the city will respond to such objections. Steber says she can’t say anything about the trees, there will be additional reporting. Just like the mayor, she points to the train that allegedly wants to cut trees along the rails. Stieber believes that parking spaces in the underground car park can be reduced through parking space management.

The city and the company are still negotiating the contract. This should reform the energy concept and build a day care center, and the city will also be given the right to occupy some apartments that will still be affordable. The mayor said, there should be a cap on rents. Seidl did not want to reveal his whereabouts.