The referendum against the planned mail distribution center of Deutsche Post has cleared the first hurdle.
On Wednesday evening, the initiators handed over 2550 signatures from Germeringers to Mayor Andreas Haas - around 2200 would be necessary to initiate a referendum.
A large mail center is to be built in Germering
The city council has spoken out in favor
But now opponents of the planning have given signatures
Germering - at the end of February, the initiator Uli Baab started the citizens' initiative with the support of Christian Heyne - both are members of the environmental advisory board.
They found active support in collecting signatures primarily from the ÖDP and individual SPD city councils.
Seven percent of the Germeringers eligible to vote had to support the request in order to make the initiative's next goal possible: with the help of a referendum, stop the plans for the mail center on Augsburger Strasse, which are already well advanced.
Germering letter center: Corona makes collecting signatures difficult
Shortly after the start of the desire, the corona lockdown almost brought social life to a standstill and also made the work of the initiative more difficult.
As Carmen Greiff (ÖDP) said when handing over to Mayor Andreas Haas, flyers and lists were distributed to almost all households in the city.
The supporters could give their signatures to one of the initiators.
From the point of view of ÖDP City Councilor Tanja Pfisterer, it has also shown that it worked so well: "Up until then, people weren't that well informed about the project."
Mayor Andreas Haas received the basket with the signatures in front of the town hall.
Together with Uli Baab and Christian Heyne as well as Dagmar Hager and Jochen Franz from the city administration and legal office, they then carried out an initial inspection of the lists handed over in the town hall.
Haas: “What has been handed in here must be documented.” Any possible legal error should be avoided from the start.
Germering letter center: Signatures are checked
The town hall chief also explained how the process continues.
A one-month period begins on the day of handover.
During this time, the administration must check whether the signatures were actually made by people from Germering who were eligible to vote on the date of submission and who lived in Germering, and whether the required number was actually reached.
Mayor Haas: "This is now a task for the residents' registration office." A second check concerns the content of the request.
It must be clarified whether the question posed therein is legally admissible.
The wording reads as follows: "Are you in favor of no mail distribution center being built in the Germeringer Norden industrial park and that the city of Germering will therefore take all legally permissible measures against this Post construction project?"
When all of this has been checked, the administration has to work out a proposal for a resolution, which the city council has to decide on by October 8th - the end of the one-month period - at the latest.
He can then either agree to the petition and stop the mail center.
In the event of a rejection, a referendum is initiated.