Ambach Senior Citizens' Home: Mayor Michael Grasl on milestones and alleged tricks

Created: 05/13/2022, 17:02

Retirement home in the countryside: This is what the retirement home in Ambach should look like one day.

© Visualization Matteo Thun

The project in the Münsinger district of Ambach is being fought hard.

Mayor Michael Grasl talks about the project in an interview.

Münsing – Six years after the Kuratorium Wohnen am Alter (KWA) bought the Wiedemann property on Simetsbergweg in Ambach, the municipal council passed the so-called project-related development plan as a statute last week.

The Bavarian Administrative Court had rejected an urgent application by the initiators of the citizens' initiative "Plan small retirement home in Ambach!" to refrain from doing this.

Opponents doubt that the community architect's calculation of the floor space and building dimensions is correct.

The new building – according to the accusation – is actually larger than the existing one.

However, this is not the case.

Now the way is clear for the investor to submit a planning application.

As reported, the company based in Unterhaching intends to

to demolish the ruins on the former sanatorium site and to build 80 apartments, a restaurant and a swimming pool as well as common rooms according to the designs of the Milan star architect Matteo Thun.

We spoke to Mayor Michael Grasl (Free Voters) about this milestone in development.

Mayor of Münsing: Michael Grasl © Sabine Hermsdorf-Hiss

Ambach Senior Citizens' Home: Mayor Michael Grasl on milestones and alleged tricks

Mr. Grasl, what exactly does the project-related development plan, which has now been approved as a statute by the municipal council with only one dissenting vote (Professor Dr. Matthias Richter-Turtur, Green Party), mean exactly?

Grasl

: That the development plan is also implemented in this way and that the building application must correspond exactly to this plan.

The feared increase in building rights is no longer possible.

The project developer must adhere to the statutes and the notarized implementation agreement 100% in terms of content and deadlines.

This legal certainty and clarity never existed in the past due to the lack of a development plan, which has repeatedly led to extensions without any land use planning.

Opponents of the retirement home: Is there a complaint to the Administrative Court?

What legal options would opponents of the project have now?

Grasl

: A complaint to the Bavarian Administrative Court is possible.

That is what the court says.

Does the community expect KWA to apply for demolition and building this year?

Grasl

: Yes, we expect it.

But the question should actually be answered by KWA.

Day care and senior citizens' home: Münsing has approved contracts

Münsinger citizens and local councils keep pushing for day care.

Is it anchored in the contract with KWA?

Grasl

: Of course, everything is regulated as the municipal council has always specified.

Also day care.

The municipal council has already approved the contracts - even if there are still doubts about that, which I can't understand.

Apparently some still don't trust the community.

That sounds a bit frustrating.

Did the dispute over the senior citizens’ residential complex weigh heavily on you personally?

grassl

: Yes, he has.

I never would have believed that a court would have come close to preventing us from completing a public trial that has been going on for five years.

But now the successful implementation of the project is no longer up to the municipality.

The fact that I had to constantly justify myself here for a good project and majority decisions really put a lot of strain on me and us as the administration.

KWA has to arrive in Ambach now and do everything to become a part of the place.

I still can't understand why the senior citizens' home was so opposed and I can't believe that we're being accused of trickery (from the Richter-Turtur municipal council, editor's note).

That actually goes against the professional ethics of the administration, our planners, the advising lawyer and myself.

There are enough supporters of the system.

Grasl

: It is probably unique in the entire district and beyond that a facility for seniors is perceived as a disturbance.

The most recent survey of seniors showed exactly the opposite: Many urgently want the residential complex including day care.

The need is already there.

Ultimately, many will benefit.

From craftsmen to medical service providers to catering and retail.

Read the latest news from Münsing here.