United Initiators: New attempt for citizens' petitions

Created: 06/27/2022, 09:29 am

By: Andrea Kästle

The conversion and expansion plans of the company United Initiators in Höllriegelskreuth are controversial.

Now the opponents of the project are striving for a new citizens' initiative.

© Andrea Kästle

The fight against the expansion of the chemical company United Initiators in Pullach is entering the next round: the citizens' initiative, which wants to prevent the project, is again striving for a citizens' initiative.

Pullach - After their first citizens' petition was not approved by the municipality and the municipal council decision was also confirmed by a court, the citizens' initiative "Protection of the Isar Valley" has now developed a new question to prevent the conversion and expansion plans of the chemical company United Initiators.

Local Agenda 21 and the Isar Valley Association have already announced that they will support the whole thing.

The FDP also seems to want to follow those responsible in terms of content.

Meanwhile, the Pullach town hall is considering presenting a council request to the citizens as an alternative.

New question already in mailboxes

The people of Pullach have already found the new question in their mailboxes, it reads: "Are you in favor of the municipality of Pullach i.

Isartal discontinues the ongoing land use planning for the re-establishment of development plan No. 23b 'Industrial area Dr.-Gustav-Adolph-Strasse' and the first partial change to the land use plan with integrated landscape plan 'Industrial area Dr.-Gustav-Adolph-Strasse' in parallel proceedings?"

In the justification, Alexandra von Reitzenstein, Jacqueline Harenberg, Kathrin Vögl and Christian Boeck state that once Big Wings, as the expansion project is called, United will be able to produce the already approved quantity of 136,000 tons of chemicals per year .

Currently 60,000 tons are produced annually.

At the same time, the area to be built on would be expanded to 100,000 square meters (currently built on: 32,000 square meters).

The whole thing is a shame for the Pullach environmental balance sheet.

Question formulated correctly

"In my opinion," says Second Mayor Andreas Most (Pullach Plus), who is currently deputizing for the ailing Mayor Susanna Millennium (Greens), "the question is now correctly formulated".

However, according to his personal opinion, the justification is still "partially incorrect".

The project would involve a reallocation of land in favor of new storage buildings.

"It has nothing to do with the production volume, nor with the area to be cultivated."

As with the first edition of the citizens' petition, which was objected to by the Munich Administrative Court and the Bavarian Administrative Court, it is important, if the necessary 700 signatures are collected, to "check the content for factual correctness".

“We tend to put a request for advice against it if the worst comes to the worst,” announced Most.

At the same time, the municipality and United Initiators continued to work on the urban development contract.

Its content will be presented at the next council meeting.

Agenda 21 signals support

In the meantime, the citizens' initiative seems to be able to hope for broader support from environmental organizations – and apparently also from politics.

Agenda 21 has already signaled that they support the initiators' recent efforts.

Agenda spokesman Peter Kloeber even said that the citizens' initiative could only "be a first step".

Because the existing legal situation already gives the group opportunities for expansion and also allows the controversial clearing of the grove in the south of the factory premises.

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The Isar Valley Association is also critical of what United Initiators intends to do, as can be seen in a letter from Chairman Martin Kiechl to the citizens' initiative.

"However, the planning authority of the mayor and municipal council also includes deciding against the (...) massive expansion of industrial development options," it says.

And apparently FDP municipal council member Alexander Betz, who in July 2020 still said in the committee that United embodied “honest industry” for him, switched to the side of the citizens’ initiative.

He advised those involved to send the administration the new question and justification in advance - to prevent further arguments about the dissemination of "fake news".

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