Evergreen Kongresshaus: Referendum on hold

Created: 12/16/2022, 6:03 p.m

By: Andreas Seiler

A constant theme for many years: the future of the Kongresshaus.

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Garmisch-Partenkirchen's municipal council is putting the brakes on in the struggle for the future of the Kongresshaus: the planned referendum is being postponed for the time being - out of consideration for an initiative that is still collecting signatures for a referendum.

A final decision may be made in the spring as to whether it is going to be a new building or a refurbishment.

Garmisch-Partenkirchen – referendums are a science in themselves.

Garmisch-Partenkirchen's long-running congress center is the best example of this.

The municipality has been working on a solution for the aging property in a prime location on Richard-Strauss-Platz for years - without really making any progress.

But now a final decision has to be made.

"We want to close the matter," confirms Mayor Elisabeth Koch (CSU).

As a reminder: In November, the municipal council initiated a council request with which it proposes a significantly smaller new building.

According to the vision, a “house for everyone” should be created – for the citizens, culture and the congress business.

Originally, the timetable provided for a referendum, i.e. a vote, on February 12, 2023.

However, this date was postponed, as the committee decided at its meeting on Thursday evening.

Local politics would like to discuss an alternative date in the January meeting.

Initiative collects signatures

The reason for the change of plan is obvious: the initiative “Save our congress center from demolition!” has now been formed.

What is required is the preservation and a gradual, careful renovation of the property, which belongs to the community and is operated by GaPa Tourismus.

A new building, it is said, would lead to a "financial disaster".

There are costs of around 41 million euros in the room.

There are also warnings about an alleged hotel construction project on the site - a speculation that community leader Koch describes as "fake news".

The group around Dr.

Thomas Trickl, Reiner Schmid-Egger and local councilor Lilian Edenhofer (free voters, non-affiliated) are striving for a citizens' initiative - as a sort of competition to the council's initiative.

For this, however, she needs supporters in order to be admitted at all, and she has to collect exactly 2178 signatures (eight percent of the residents) in the market.

According to the ambitious goal, this number should be reached by the beginning of January.

If there is a green light for the citizens' initiative, then both variants - new construction or renovation - including the key question will probably be put to the vote on one day.

The whole thing is likely to take place in the spring, since the administration needs a lead time and deadlines have to be met.

It gets exciting when the signatures don't come together as quickly as expected.

Then the municipal council can either continue to wait or push forward with its council request.

Panel discussion planned

For the head of the town hall, Koch, it is a “self-evident fact”, as she emphasizes, to give the initiative the necessary time.

This approach is very democratic.

However, one cannot wait until Saint-Never's Day.

Both sides are to put forward their arguments at a panel discussion planned for January 12 in the Kongresshaus.

The majority of the municipal council followed the view of the administration.

It is important, stressed Ulrike Bittner-Wolff (SPD), to get the citizens involved and to do some convincing for the new building.

In the eyes of most representatives of the people, this is the more economical solution.

According to the tenor, a new multifunctional building best meets modern requirements, for example in the areas of energy efficiency and accessibility.

Alexandra Roos-Teitscheid (Greens) advocated keeping the further timing of the process as specific as possible.

Anything else would be a "wrong signal to the outside world".

Martin Sielmann (FDP) expressed criticism again: The Liberal appealed to his counterparts to withdraw the Council request and to accept the result of the referendum from 2019.

At that time, a clear majority voted in favor of keeping the house and renovating it - a vote that is no longer binding today.