Because of the feared operating costs, a number of city councilors are pleading against the long-awaited inclined elevator to Domberg.
Then there is a surprising turn.
Freising
– It should not only relieve the Domberg from car traffic, but also make the ascent barrier-free, bring day tourists to the splendidly reopened Diocesan Museum and later seminar guests to the Cardinal Döpfner House: the inclined elevator, which runs from the city on the corner of Bahnhofstraße and Brunnhausgasse should lead to the mons doctus.
But city councilors almost canceled the project that had been planned for a long time as part of the city center redevelopment – because of the future operating costs.
Actually, the topic should not have been discussed publicly in the meeting on Thursday due to contract details with the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising.
However, at the request of the Greens, the city council decided to debate the landmark decision publicly.
The annual operating costs are in the six-digit range
In a nightly marathon meeting, in which the budget had already been decided in a dramatic way, city director Gerhard Koch first informed about the background: After the elevator project had been warmly welcomed by the design advisory board, the finance committee had the project in its most recent meeting 5:7 votes rejected.
The reason for this is the cooperation agreement that the city and church want to conclude.
According to this, the church would pay the cost of building the elevator, and the city would then have to finance the operation.
As the city council said several times, it is about a sum of around 120,000 euros per year, in any case a six-digit amount.
Ulrich Vogl (ÖDP) was one of the people who sat on the committee and voted for the contract.
"I was shocked when a majority did not want to get closer to this pioneering cooperation project for our city," he told the FT.
Together with Reinhard Fiedler (FSM), he decided to fight for the project - "even if we didn't see such a great opportunity".
They appealed the decision and requested a retrial in the city council.
Tight budgetary situation deters many councils
The skeptics initially had the floor there.
"If the church wants to build this elevator, then they should do it," emphasized Sebastian Habermeyer (Greens).
"But I don't understand that we as a city should now be involved financially." That was never an issue and doesn't fit in with the times.
“We want to save after all.” Given the tight budget situation, other councils also spoke out against the elevator costs for reasons of savings.
Mayor Tobias Eschenbacher emphasized that the public roads are the responsibility of the city.
"We have the chance that with the church, a third party will build the elevator for us, which will then belong to us." With other elevators, for example in underpasses, the city not only has to pay for the operation, but also for the construction.
"Here we get it for free."
The Freisingers can already identify with the elevator
Fiedler said that if the city of Freising would benefit from the investments in the long term, he would not worry about debts.
“Toompea is the heart of the city.
We can now turn it back into a retreat with a high quality of stay and strengthen the city center.” Vogl emphasized that the lift, thanks to the ideally located base station, makes a “decisive contribution to avoiding traffic around the city center”.
And quite incidentally, the heating network can be inexpensively extended to Domberg via the escape staircase.
Robert Weller (FW) was one of the people who voted against it in committee and now changed his mind.
His reason: “The project creates a lot of enthusiasm.
The people of Freising are already identifying with the elevator.” Maria Lintl (FSM) emphasized: “For many senior citizens, the Domberg is currently not accessible.” The elevator would be a blessing for them as well as for people who work on the Domberg, or for Tourists arriving at the train station with heavy luggage to visit the Diocesan Museum or future seminars at the KDH.
(By the way: everything from the region is now also available in our regular Freising newsletter.)
In the end, the council voted 24:15 for the cooperation agreement and thus for the assumption of the operating costs.
The elevator should be realized in 2024 – just in time for the state exhibition in the Freising anniversary year.
