One area, three votes: Because of the parish plot between the town hall and the train station, there is recently a referendum in Mittenwald on Sunday.
Mittenwald
- When the then mayor Adolf Hornsteiner came out with his luxury hotel plans in May 2009, nobody could have guessed that the area in question between the town hall and the train station would become a bone of contention among the people of Mittenwald. On this Sunday, around 6,000 citizens entitled to vote will be able to decide whether or not the community area on Bahnhofstrasse should be sold to an external investor who would like to build an aja-branded hotel on it.
The all-important vote takes place exclusively by postal vote. Enrico Corongiu (SPD) can only speculate about how big the response is. “In terms of weight, it could be 3500,” jokes the town hall chief, who, like almost the entire market council, has joined the pro-hotel group. Only one leaves: Ursula Seydel (SPD). For months, the architect has been railing heavily against the resort in a central location, warning that this fillet area is degenerating into a "plaything for speculators". With this opinion, Seydel has completely isolated himself in the parliament - also from his own parliamentary group. "Unfortunately, our advisor for economic development spreads claims that cannot be left as they are, because some of them are simply not proven at all," said council colleague Stefan Schmitz (citizens' association) recently.
Yes, it has been hotly debated since the initiators of the referendum in July easily achieved the required quorum (614) with over 1000 signatures. Now for the all-important finale, the guesthouse operators Christian Küffler, Sepp Knilling, Ilona Benz, Angelika Edlhuber, Sabine Doering and Jutta Hins speak again via press release. It says: “It is now a matter of setting the course for Mittenwald's future. If you want to preserve the village character of Mittenwald and thus decide against an oversized city hotel, please vote with 'Yes' against the sale of the property at the train station. "
Mayor Corongiu, however, once again refers to the compatibility study that does show that Mittenwald, with its latent decline in guest beds, would tolerate more hotels. "That is an important benchmark for me."
On this Sunday, the never-ending story of the community area, which used to be a school and later an indoor swimming pool, will be updated by one chapter.
Since Adolf Hornsteiner euphorically praised his hotel project “Mittenwald 2010” in May 2009, heated debates, norm review complaints, referendums (2017) and council requests (2018) have followed.
In spring 2020, restaurateurs and hoteliers even formed a front against the dreaded bed castle.
And it's always about 11,000 square meters.
Some see it as an inviolable sanctuary, others see it as a piece of cake with development potential.
In any case, this area has once again become the bone of contention in local politics.