Clear vote for 1 + 1 gym variant at Weilheimer Gymnasium - what is the district council doing now?

The district committee has once again buried the expensive 2+1 gym variant at the Weilheim grammar school and has spoken out in favor of building two gymnasiums one on top of the other at the current location.

Weilheim

– What exactly that means this time will only become clear when the district council meets on this topic in a special session at the beginning of June.

A few weeks ago, the district committee had stopped planning for the 2+1 variant because the costs for it had gotten completely out of hand (we reported).

Nevertheless, the topic was again discussed in detail in the district council.

District Councilor Hans Schütz (Greens/Peiting) had demanded that work on the 2+1 variant should begin “immediately” – regardless of the costs involved.

Quite apart from the fact that this is practically not possible, as the head of the building and real estate office, Florian Steinbach, explained to the district committee on Monday - the 2+1 variant fell through again with a bang.

Costs for the 2+1 hall are constantly increasing

Steinbach had explained that due to the planning freeze decided in April, "a start of construction this year, even for the 2+1 variant, is almost impossible".

Due to the immense increase in construction costs in recent months, the project has meanwhile increased in price to 15.8 million euros.

If you follow it up and start work in 2023, you can count on 16.8 million euros, says Steinbach.

That was simply too much money for the members of the district committee, also in view of the numerous other necessary investments in the coming years.

Instead, it quickly became clear in the debate that the overwhelming majority of committee members could warm to the 1+1 variant, which the administration had surprisingly pulled out of a hat in the district council.

The new building should be slightly larger and thus "suitable for school sports".

The existing gymnasium building is to be demolished and replaced by a similarly arranged new building, in which two gymnasiums are again stacked on top of each other.

However, in contrast to the previous ones, the new halls should be fully "suitable for school sports" by building them around two meters longer and one meter wider.

Ball sports could then also be trained safely in school sports.

But one thing the new double hall will not be: suitable for club sports.

Much to the chagrin of TSV Weilheim, who had counted on the new halls and convinced the city to take on the additional costs that would result.

Due to the fact that it is no longer suitable for club sports, the new double hall is also significantly cheaper.

Florian Steinbach gave a cost estimate of around eight million euros because there would be no time-consuming earthwork, no additional elevator is required for school use only and the connection to the existing school facade would be possible without any problems.

Refurbishment of the existing building also falls through in the committee

Only Markus Kunzendorf (ÖDP/Oberhausen) continued to advocate simply renovating the existing building for a maximum of six million euros.

Wolfgang Scholz (CSU/Schwabsoien) calculated that the new building would be cheaper over the entire life cycle.

Because a new building simply lasts longer.

That is why the Union will vote for the 1 + 1 variant in the district council.

Ironically, the deputy district administrator Wolfgang Taffertshofer (BfL/Obersöchering), to whose group Weilheim's mayor Markus Loth (BfL/Weilheim) also belongs, did not feel sufficiently informed and tried to prevent a vote.

The district committee could take note of the lecture and let the district council decide, he suggested.

But he bit on granite with his committee colleagues.

Greens: CO2 savings gladly, but not at any price

Markus Bader (SPD/Rottenbuch) warned against spending a lot of money on certification of the new building just to get KfW funding.

On the one hand, the KfW funding quota has been halved, which, in view of the construction costs, "doesn't make the herb fat", as Florian Steinbach from the administration put it.

In addition, Bader was certain that there would be no connection between the effort and the benefit.

Karl-Heinz Grehl (Greens/Weilheim) was pleased that the renovation of the existing building was off the table: "I have always said that, in my opinion, the building cannot be renovated." He also said that the energy consumption of the building is certainly important , but savings in CO2 emissions should not be achieved "at any price".

Criticism came from Rüdiger Imgart (AfD/Weilheim).

The 1+1 variant is certainly “the right decision”.

However, he would have wished for more courage from the city and district "and would have gladly dared to build a new triple hall instead of the indoor swimming pool".

Even after the new building, the school lacks a gymnasium field

District Administrator Andrea Jochner-Weiß admitted that her "heart bleeds privately because I've always said that we need a proper solution.

And that would have been the 2+1 variant.” However, she is “much better off now” with the 1+1 variant because it is a new building with manageable risks.

However, Jochner-Weiss also pointed out that the now favored planning had a snag.

Due to the number of students, the grammar school is entitled to three gymnasium fields, but only two will be built.

The district has already drawn up a plan for this (we reported), but it needs the support of the city of Weilheim.

Waiting for demolition of today's indoor pool

If, as announced, they really build a new indoor pool at a different location, the current indoor pool could be demolished and another triple hall could be built there.

The district would finance two of the three fields in order to cover the needs of the high school and the support center, the third field would have to be financed by the city.

Then the TSV would also have its competition-ready hall if the Jahn gym would be completely renovated after completion.

However, the district administrator left no doubt that this is still a dream of the future and that nothing has been decided yet.

In addition, it is completely unclear whether the district would still have the wherewithal to go through with the project once the project was ready to be decided.

In any case, it is a fact that all members of the district committee except Markus Kunzendorf ultimately voted for the 1+1 variant as a new building.

Also because, according to district treasurer Norbert Merk, there is a chance that the new building could be finished by 2025, when G9 is introduced.

Now the district council has to decide.

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