Great joy, great disappointment: That's what the city councilors say about the result of the citizen survey in Weilheim

Created: 10/23/2022, 08:00

By: Magnus Reitinger

Numerous listeners at the city council meeting on Thursday evening in the city hall received the result of the citizen survey on the bypass with applause.

© gronau

"The result is finally here," said the Weilheim city council on Thursday about the citizen survey on the bypass.

The participation rate was high, the result clear, so everyone agreed.

However, the conclusions are quite different.

Weilheim

– For BfW and CSU, the two largest factions in the Weilheim city council, the result was a defeat.

Both had vehemently campaigned for a bypass in the "election campaign" that developed around the citizen survey - and more or less clearly named route favorites.

At the BfW there was talk of a “certain soft spot for a variant close to the East”;

the CSU advertised vigorously by direct mail for a western bypass.

Weilheim bypass: Why did the debate leave half the population cold?

The fact that the majority of Weilheimers generally rejects a bypass - 5477 citizens basically said "no" to a bypass road, 4418 voted "yes" (we reported) - surprised many.

More than 1000 votes difference, that was "a clear result", so everyone agreed.

The participation rate of 49.7 percent is “astonishingly high” for such a survey, said BfW spokeswoman Brigitte Holeczek.

Nonetheless, she noted that despite heated debates, half the population "left cold, for whatever reason."

The rejection does not correspond to the opinion of the BfW, Holeczek continued, but the result is respected: "Now it is the task of the state building authority to include the result in its catalog of decisions and to evaluate it."

CSU sees effects on large construction projects in Weilheim

The survey produced a “very valid opinion” thanks to the high level of participation for CSU spokeswoman Marion Lunz-Schmieder.

As a result, “the committed opponents prevailed”.

For the building authority, the opinion is "certainly not unimportant", although it is not legally binding, she added, and the authority also represents citizens of other places in the surrounding area.

In Weilheim's city council, according to Lunz-Schmieder, "we now have to ask ourselves whether we can continue to plan all the major construction projects that we are planning in Weilheim without this relief road".

Greens are now demanding a city council decision

Traffic officer Manuel Neulinger (Greens), who became politically active years ago, said he was "pleased with the result".

According to the Greens, the "unambiguous" result must "not only be passed on" to the state building authority - the city council should now "take a formal decision and speak out against a Weilheim bypass".

This was also supported by Rüdiger Imgart (AfD): For him, the citizens' vote was "a binding decision";

he now hopes for a city council decision that will work towards "that the bypass plans are discontinued".

How binding is the will of the people?

"If not the opinion of the citizens, then what should be binding for us?", emphasized Susann Enders (FW) and reminded the state building authority "of its statement that planning will not ignore the will of the citizens".

Similarly Ullrich Klinkicht (WM Miteinander): Head of the building authority Stefan Scheckinger must now “do everything in his power to stop planning for a Weilheim bypass as early as possible”.

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ÖDP demands "Weilheim Charter for Sustainable Mobility"

Roland Bosch (ÖDP) sees the city council now called upon to provide traffic relief.

After all, everyone wanted that – “some with a bypass, others with alternative mobility concepts”.

Bosch needs to work on the latter based on this “unambiguous” survey result and implement the existing cycle path concept, for example.

The ÖDP representative also suggested a “Weilheim Charter for Sustainable Mobility”.

SPD appeals: "Don't put any more energy into what separates"

"Let's use the momentum we've just shown, pool our strengths, put our heads together, let's not wait any longer and don't put any more energy into emphasizing what separates us," appealed Horst Martin (SPD).

It is now a matter of finding and implementing solutions for noticeable traffic relief;

the city council must "have the courage to try out unpopular and uncomfortable measures and endure headwinds".

Mayor Markus Loth should "bring the mayors of the surrounding area to one table".

Stefan Zirngibl (CSU) made no secret of his disappointment: the no to the bypass was “a mistake for Weilheim”.

For him, the fact that there will be fewer cars in the city in the future is "wishful thinking", especially as he firmly assumes "that the B 2 will be expanded".

Meanwhile, CSU colleague Klaus Gast called for solutions to be pushed “that were postponed with a view to a possible bypass”.