Waste or noise protection: legal dispute over the 400,000-ton mountain in Regensburg  

Created: 05/26/2022, 18:59

By: Stefan Aigner

View of the controversial mountain in the Gleisdreieck.

© Schmack GmbH

The city of Regensburg is arguing with a developer about nothing less than a mountain.

It is intended to serve as noise protection for a future construction area.

Regensburg

clarification after eight years of standstill?

In the dispute between a developer and the city of Regensburg about a possible building area in the east of the city, there will be a trial before the administrative court at the end of June.

The judges then have to decide on a 400,000-ton mountain.

Construction area in the east of Regensburg: standstill for eight years

The dispute between the brothers Ferdinand and Martin Schmack on the one hand and parts of the Regensburg city administration on the other has been smoldering since April 2014. At that time, the city council had drawn up a development plan for the Gleisdreieck, near the Candis quarter on the site of the former sugar factory , decided.

But since then nothing has progressed.

The municipal press office confirmed to our editorial team that the process had “not been substantially continued” for eight years.

The background is disagreements about reports, such as noise and monument protection, whether and how much residential development is possible on the ten-hectare area - and about that mountain.

Dispute over 400,000-ton mountain in Regensburg: City speaks of "illegal waste dumping"

For the Schmacks, the 230,000 cubic meter earth wall is a central part of their planning.

As noise protection for the future "Dreibrücken" construction area, as a compensation area for nature that has been omitted in other construction areas and as a practical way to use the excavated earth from the earlier Candis construction sites locally and cost-effectively for other purposes.

For the city, however, the mountain is “illegal waste dumping”.

(By the way: Our brand new Regensburg newsletter will keep you regularly informed about all the important stories from the World Heritage city and the Upper Palatinate. Register here.)

In fact, the mountain is included in the draft resolution for the development plan mentioned, which the city council initiated in 2014.

There is talk of a "terrain modeling" with a height of between eleven and 25 meters.

"In the process, excavated material from various construction projects in the city area should be deposited and used sensibly," it continues.

Dispute between the city and property developer in Regensburg: The mountain is desired, but not like that

But the automatism with which the Schmacks dumped their excavation from the Candis construction sites there in order to form the said mountain with them is not immediately apparent in the city.

Because the city only approved the disposal of this excavated material temporarily in 2014 – for two years.

Perhaps in the hope that the development plan process could be completed by then, but without a corresponding commitment.

And when the permit expired in 2016, there was no zoning plan to "legalize" the mountain.

According to statements by the city, the 400,000 tons of excavated material have been "illegal dumping of waste".

It should go, has been the city's demand for six years now.

Dispute with property developer in Regensburg: Does the mountain have to go first so that there is a new mountain?

Initially, this demand was quite cautious.

The city seems to have shied away from a formal removal order, which would then also be subject to complaint.

Only on October 29, 2019 was there a formal decision with the request: The mountain has to go.

The Schmacks, on the other hand, filed a lawsuit, which – after years of exchanging pleadings – will now be heard at the Regensburg Administrative Court on June 27th.

"The city insists on a formally correct handling of the deposits," the city press office told our editorial team.

The Schmacks would have wanted to "consolidate the landscape mountain with this excavation" with a view to the not yet legally binding development plan 161.

"From the city's point of view, this must be clarified when the planning process is carried out and only then can it be carried out, if necessary with conditions." Simplified: First the non-approved mountain must be removed, and then, after the completion of the development plan process, an approved mountain can be restored.

Dispute over 400,000-ton mountain: the environmental agency fears that politics will be influenced

The Schmacks do not want to comment against the background of the ongoing proceedings.

However, Martin Schmack explained to Schmack in August 2019 that the production of such a mountain is only possible in the way they are currently practicing.

“If you order a mountain like this from the catalogue, it costs 13 million euros.

It's not possible," said Schmack at the time.

In the past, there had always been fears from parts of the city administration that the Schmacks could influence politics in order to be able to implement their ideas in the Gleisdreieck.

For example, the statement of a clerk at the environmental agency from January 2019 says:

"It is feared that Schmack will have an impact on politics in the spring for the following reasons: removal of the mountain, (...) no residential development in the Gleisdreieck."

Eight years of standstill in the construction area: You block each other in a dispute

With regard to the question of removing the mountain, this fear seems to have been unfounded.

Because there is a removal order that a court will decide on June 27th.

The real question, however, whether and how much residential development is actually possible in the Gleisdreieck is reserved for the development plan procedure 161, which has not made any progress for eight years.

With noise protection, stability of the mountain, "monument protection (visual relationships) etc.", the city lists a whole range of topics that have not yet been processed.

"Despite intensive coordination between the city and the addressee of the decision, the pending court proceedings in particular have so far prevented a solution to the complex problems," says a statement to our editorial team.

In other words, you block each other in a dispute.

Dispute over mountain in the construction area: the mayor wants to dissolve the blockade

The municipal press office is currently also pointing out that there is “continuous and active communication” with the Schmacks “and other contacts” “in order to resolve the current unsatisfactory blockade situation”.

The aim of the mayor and thus of the city is "to establish a cleaned area with landscape mountain and networking function for the citizens of Regensburg as well as all necessary compensation areas in the Gleisdreieck in a manageable time frame in cooperation with all actors within the framework of an orderly process".

That was actually closed about eight years ago.

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