The municipality of Berg waived the offer from residents to have their street paved at their expense.
Also because polymers are used.
The town hall administration fears that this use of plastic could harm the environment and set a precedent.
Kempfenhausen –
Everyone knows microplastics, including the fish in Lake Starnberg, although plastic doesn’t belong there.
Polymers are plastics in the nanoparticle range, i.e. significantly smaller than microplastics.
The municipality of Berg therefore has reservations about allowing a road surface on Kastanienallee above Lake Starnberg that contains polymers, among other things - even though it would be given as a gift.
The five residents of Kastanienallee approached the municipality of Berg with the desire to have their street paved to reduce dust pollution.
Currently, the 200 meter long local road is made of gravel.
The local residents imagine something else anyway.
They suggested that the municipality pay for the road surface.
But only if the so-called "mix in place" procedure is used, with which everything is done in one day.
The existing road material is mixed with cement and polymers on site, applied and solidified, as Stefan Rath explained to the committee.
The finish should be a bitumen layer with grit to protect the cement from drying out.
The residents rejected an asphalt layer or a paved road: "They don't like it," said Rath.
The residents also do not want the municipality to create the Kastanienallee for the first time, which would create curbs and gullies.
When gravel roads are first upgraded, local residents are usually involved financially.
In the case of Kastanienallee, the participation of residents would be 90 percent, as Steigenberger said.
According to Steigenberger, if the road were properly repaired, including the substructure, the community would have peace for 40 years.
Rath thought it sensible not to create a precedent for the often controversial topic of initial road construction and possible alternatives.
"If we allow them, the residents of other streets will come and say: We would like it to be dust-free, but not a first production."
It is unclear how long a polymer road will last and how maintenance will be carried out.
There is little experience with the procedure.
According to Steigenberger, there is an asphalt layer on a polymer road in Münsing.
According to Rath, one in Schäftlarn was already riddled with cracks after six months.
The administration, including climate manager Sebastiana Henkelmann, is concerned that the polymers will be washed out and pollute the environment and that the material will eventually become expensive or difficult to dispose of.
"Maybe it's worse than microplastics," said Henkelmann.
Rath knew that there were only now measuring methods for polymers, and he pointed out: "If it ever explodes like asbestos or formaldehyde?" Steigenberger said: "It's a piñata question: do we take it for free or not?" The committee's response was no.
The committee and administration also considered the issue of the missing initial production to be problematic.
In 20 years it will probably be difficult to understand what happened, said treasurer Florian Bendele.
The municipality runs the risk of having to pay for the initial production itself.