Sad news for Dachau allotment gardeners: 23 plots have to go

Created: 2022-01-20 07:02

By: Stefanie Zipfer

23 allotment plots that have been cultivated undisturbed for 40 years now have to go.

© Norbert Habschied

23 allotment plots that have been cultivated undisturbed for 40 years now have to go.

Three years ago, the city and city councils had promised to secure the 23 plots in Dachau in the long term.

With reference to the water management office, however, it has now been decided to clear the facilities.

Dachau – In January 2019, the election campaign for the local elections began.

The impression of a possibly heartless city administration should therefore be avoided as far as possible.

The building authority's order to have the around 40-year-old and never officially approved allotment garden on Gröbenrieder Strasse in the south of Dachau cleared was quickly conceded.

Mayor wanted to propose to the city council to legalize the allotment gardens afterwards

Above all, the CSU city councilors demanded the subsequent approval of the areas and Mayor Florian Hartmann stated that he wanted to personally try to find a "political solution" to the matter. Legally, according to the mayor at the time, his building authority could not be accused of anything, the gardens were located in the so-called outdoor area, which by law was primarily reserved for agriculture. And the fact that the city only intervened in 2019, after decades of "wild" existence, was, according to the head of the building authority, Moritz Reinhold, simply because "today's decision-makers didn't know anything about the system until now". However, as Hartmann also promised the citizens three years ago, "I will propose to the city council thatto subsequently legalize allotment gardens by changing the land use plan and drawing up a development plan”.

City councilors decided to evict

The tenants of the allotment gardens on Gröbenrieder Straße/Schäferweg will find out what this promise was worth in their mailboxes in a few days.

Because, contrary to all announcements that a political solution would be found, the building authority proposed to the building committee on Tuesday "not to pursue the new designation of an allotment garden".

And the councilors on the committee overwhelmingly agreed.

The problem: The flood protection makes it impossible to subsequently approve the areas

The reason for the surprising about-face: according to the water management office, the allotment gardens are located in the so-called fixed flood area of ​​the Gröbenbach.

"The erection and expansion of physical structures" are "prohibited" there, as are arbours, fences, walls, trees and shrubs.

In short: Anything that could impede the flow of water is prohibited.

Mayor emphasizes: He did not break his promise

When asked, Mayor Florian Hartmann therefore emphasizes that he has by no means broken his promise to the allotment gardeners from Schäferweg: "I have definitely striven for a change!" However, the city now has "no decision-making authority" on this point.

Allotment gardener is devastated

Lothar Fuchs, one of the affected allotment gardeners, is devastated: that after 40 years he "has to give up his beloved garden: If I expected everything, just not that," he says sadly. It is “also about the long-term community among each other. Furthermore, it's also about what you've created for years, it doesn't happen overnight". Five years ago he “planted 15 vines on a trial basis and was able to harvest grapes for the first time last autumn. Or the fruit trees or berry bushes that you can't just replant," complains the pensioner. In this respect, the question does not arise for him as to whether he and his garden neighbors would move to another area.

Franz Scherm, owner of the area, is also sad. He always leased the gardens based on a "social aspect" and was therefore much cheaper than other allotment gardens in the Munich area. "For pensioners, less well-to-do tenants, the facility was a piece of freedom and a life of their own, without the strain of long journeys, without having to spend a lot of money that is usually not there at all". His tenants were simple employees, pensioners, single people and families with children. He suspects that his property will now lie fallow because "a farmer will not do these small areas to himself". In addition, the “stock of trees is lush; it will probably have to be flattened, which means we'll cut down a lot of beautiful trees".

The city councilors in the building committee nevertheless agreed that - as Sören Schneider (SPD) put it - "flood protection is to be rated higher than the systems that the allotment gardeners have created".

Only Markus Kellerer (AfD) saw the dismantling order, which now has to be implemented within five years, as "too great an encroachment on the property rights" of allotment gardeners.

The only concession from the city: "Wherever we can," says Mayor Hartmann, the allotment gardeners from Gröbenrieder Straße should be able to find accommodation in other facilities, "we want to designate new areas." (See box on the left).