Sauerlach would have planned enough already.
Tragically, another huge project was added in the first few weeks of the New Year: the old town hall burned down and needs to be renovated.
Sauerlach
- The famous painter Maximilian Seitz, who lived on the first floor and grew up in Sauerlach, died in the fire in the old town hall.
Seitz was once represented at the Documenta.
He was widely recognized for his abstract, intensely colored paintings.
Mayor Barbara Bogner (UBV), now in her third term of office, says: “We are currently doing nothing other than making sure that we get the old town hall running again.” The building, which burned down completely on the upper floor, also has the ground floor , where the registry office was located, suffered "enormous water damage" during the extinguishing work.
It is a listed building, it was a "jewel in the center", which is exactly what it should be again.
Entire building can no longer be used
The approximately 30 meters of files from the registry office could be saved almost at the last second, some of them got wet, but have now dried again.
For the employees of the two offices, which were located in the old building, new jobs have been found in the basement of the new town hall - not ideal, but feasible.
"The entire building can no longer be used," says Mayor Barbara Bogner, she can only hope that the reconstruction will be covered by the insurance, and that in full.
Otherwise: the crib extension at the kindergarten at the train station should be finished this year, Bogner and her committee want to set the course for another daycare center in Sauerlach - so that construction can begin next year.
Six groups should find space there.
Altkirchen fire brigade needs a new tool shed
The Altkirchen fire brigade needs a new tool shed that is to be pulled up on the maypole.
For this, too, the ground is being prepared on paper this year.
Major projects are also: the broadband expansion in the southern and western parts of the town, which is to be prepared in the next eleven months, the long-discussed "sports concept" for TSV Sauerlach and SV Arget, with artificial turf on the communal sports center in Arget and renovation of the existing old gyms.
Barbara Bogner says: "We are now also moving towards planning."
Wind turbines in the Hofoldinger Forest
All of this is actually quite a lot for a rural community, but it is not all in Sauerlach.
There are also projects that the municipality is tackling with its neighbors and that still need preparation.
The wind turbines in the Hofoldinger Forst, for example, which may be turning as early as 2023, as well as the grammar school, for which an area between the residential development and the commercial area in Sauerlach itself has been planned, but not yet clearly defined.
The school should definitely have three classes, the association with all the surrounding municipalities has already been set up.
This year the task is to bring the development under one roof.
Even if the community, as Bogner says, "got away with it with a black eye" when it comes to trade tax income: Of course, savings alone cannot finance everything that is on the agenda.
"When the kindergarten is being built, there will be some debt."
Gentle growth
Last year the community did not register any influx;
in the previous years the population had grown by 1.5 to 1.7 percent.
Bogner is preparing for the fact that things will continue like this for the time being, "a few building areas" can still be identified in and around Sauerlach.
Subsidized housing should also be realized again - but neither will be an issue this year.
Maybe when the old town hall is back.
In 2021 it could also be about the radio mast that Telekom wanted to set up near Kleineichenhausen.
Residents protested against this, in the end it was not possible to ensure the development of the planned site, the land required for this would not have been available.
The mast is off the table for the time being, but the search for a possible location will probably continue, says Bogner: "Telekom just has the job of closing dead spots."