Town center in Waakirchen: These further steps are now planned

Created: 2022-01-20 17:28

By: Daniela Skodacek

The Waakirchner village center, previously a green meadow between Bäckervoitl (in the picture in front of the church) and the savings bank branch on the main road, is to be developed further in a new attempt.

How – the citizens should now be able to have a say right from the start.

© Skodacek

Waakirchen – The town center in Waakirchen is to be developed.

How, that is unclear after a referendum in 2019.

Now there is a new attempt in the municipal council.

Two and a half years have now passed since the referendum on the center of Waakirchner.

In the summer of 2019, the majority of voters voted against the plans for a redesign with five residential and commercial buildings including an underground car park, thus rewinding all of the community’s considerations to the beginning.

Involving citizens right from the start should now be the focus of all further steps.

In any case, the municipal councils rejected the request made by Michael Futschik, an actor in the critical camp at the time, to engage an agency for the opening event.

Referendum on the town center 2019

For the organization and implementation of a kick-off event, Futschik, spokesman for the citizens' workshop and initiator of the 2019 referendum, submitted cost estimates from two agencies to the committee. According to Mayor Norbert Kerkel, both offers were over 30,000 euros. For most councils, that was too much money at first. In the meantime, some citizens have already reported to the town hall that they would get involved in the restart, Kerkel reported: "The administration would support that." First of all, a working group had to be set up.

As a reminder: Despite an information offensive by the municipality, which cost around 65,000 euros to support a Munich specialist office, the divided camps could not be united at the time.

The municipal draft for a housing project on the undeveloped area between the Bäckervoitl property and the Sparkasse branch fell through.

Event with a neutral moderator

In any case, the long-standing municipal councilor Rudi Reber (ABV) does not want to repeat the mistakes of the past: "If you tackle it properly and involve the citizens, there will be a result." In addition, Reber warned not to let two camps arise again.

"As a community, we have the responsibility to set it up properly," said Reber, who would be fine with a mix, i.e. an event organized by the community with a neutral moderator.

Cornelia Riepe (Greens) suggested forming a core working group according to a fixed procedure - without members from the municipal administration or the municipal council.

Michael Mohrenweiser (ABV) noted that the kick-off event was initially just a test of how the general response from society was.

Gisela Hölscher (FW), on the other hand, did not want to decide anything yet and would rather prepare the new start conscientiously, who, due to the corona pandemic, does not believe that a kick-off event can be held until next autumn.

Mayor Kerkel, however, absolutely wanted to make the decision in the January meeting, because the budget must also be taken into account with regard to future budget planning.

Start date for early summer 2022

Kerkel recalled that 50,000 euros had already been set aside for public participation in the budget.

There is now also a contact person: Werner Raab has been taking care of IT in the town hall since the beginning of the year and is also responsible for working groups.

He himself, a former long-time board member at TSV Schaftlach, introduced himself to the committee and the audience as well-known in the community and said succinctly: "I'm in good spirits.

Anyone can speak to me.

We'll rock that."

In the course of the detailed discussion, it became apparent that many councils consider professional process support for the new planning to be quite sensible.

For the start, however, Waakirchen now wants to try volunteering.

In the end, the municipal councils unanimously refused to commission a specialist office with the kick-off event.

On the other hand, it was decided unanimously to transfer this task to the municipal administration and the citizens together.

"It's not something you can start right next month," emphasized Kerkel, but announced a possible start date for early summer 2022.