Without further ado, Egon Eicher has staked out a 1.30-metre-wide strip that could serve as a cycle path in his eyes. In the direction of the road, cars could still park across the road. According to the road construction office, however, this is not possible. © Vroni Power
Because there are no parking spaces in front of the Eicher building for the construction of cycle paths, the operator of the Eicher Museum and the café fears their closure. The municipality, however, sees no danger.
Forstern – The municipality of Forstern is renovating the area in front of the former Eicher building. This creates a safe cycle path, while on the other hand there are no parking spaces. The Eicherfreunde Forstern, who run their museum and café in the building, see this as a threat to their association's goal: "Closure of the Eicher Museum is imminent," reads the sign that Egon Eicher has hung on the door. He justifies this concern with the parking space statute. The municipality, however, does not see the situation so blackly. "I don't see that we are endangering the museum," says Mayor Rainer Streu in an interview with our newspaper.
Egon Eicher is not only the owner of the building, he is also chairman of the Eicherfreunde with 650 members. The association runs the Eicher Museum, the municipal local history museum and the youth club are also housed there, as well as the Eicher Café. The online portal familienausflug.info recently voted the Eicher Museum number 2 of the best excursion tips 2023 in Bavaria. "The fact that we are far ahead in such a ranking, but at the same time are very neglected by the municipality, is like a slap in the neck," says Eicher.
He is referring to the municipality's plans in front of the building. As reported, she wants to extend the cycle path coming from Hohenlinden. In consultation with the Freising State Building Authority, the ten or so previously disorderly parking spaces will make way for this purpose, with only three longitudinal parkers remaining, which are to be explicitly designated for the museum and limited in time. According to Eicher, this solution is based on the development plan of 2004, when the demolition of the former administration building was still assumed.
And it is precisely this number of parking spaces that worries Eicher. Among the visitors are many elderly people who are no longer able to walk so well, and many visitors with small children. Above all, however, it is about the parking space statute. According to Eicher, eight parking spaces would be needed for the café, six for the museums and one for the youth club. So far, the available space has not been enough. "The hope was that the senior citizens' center would be built next to it and that we would be designated parking spaces there," says Eicher. But this project is currently in limbo.
"If you go by the parking space statutes, the building should have been empty for years," Mayor Streu clarifies. But they have already turned a blind eye – "so why should you have to lock up all of a sudden?" With the municipality's plans, the parking spaces needed for public use could certainly be made available – for a youth club, museum and, if not directly, then at least in dual use with the café.
As early as November 2021, the municipality's proposal, drawn up by the Planning Association for the Outer Economic Area of Munich, to realize a parking garage behind the house. 17 seats in the basement and another 17 above could be created there. According to Eicher, this building would have cost more than 600,000 euros – "but that is disproportionate and would certainly not be accepted by the residents of the settlement," he says today.
In 2021, there is also a plan to create eight orderly parking spaces at the front, which are arranged at an angle to the street and are accessed via a one-way system. According to Eicher's plans, this entrance could be used as a cycle path. And with this solution, according to him, there is also no overlap of public and private land, which the municipality always categorically rejects.
Eicher spontaneously has a second alternative ready. "My father was not an engineer, but a practitioner. He always said: You don't know what you haven't tried." That's why Eicher has cut off an approximately 1.30-meter-wide strip between the sidewalk and parking lots, and even there is still enough space for the cars to stand across the street behind it. "This probably only costs a fraction of what the municipality is planning now and would also be a temporary solution, just like the solution now planned," he says.
Nevertheless, this alternative is not possible, explains Streu. "We have a clear requirement from the road construction authority that parking on this busy road is only allowed in parallel." Reversing onto the road is too dangerous and therefore no longer allowed. The previous parking spaces were therefore only tolerated in this form by the road construction office, Streu emphasizes. Now they are putting the "chaos" in order and want to fight for the creation of five parking spaces instead of just three. These, as well as another four in the rear area, would result in nine seats – according to the mayor, sufficient for a youth club, for the museum and, in combination, for the café.
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Eicher emphasizes that the café and the free museum serve the community and not his private well-being. In addition, the municipality is a beneficiary of both facilities, because when they are open, he is also there as a supervisor for the local history museum. Last but not least, he had left the rooms for the local history museum and youth club at a "very reasonable rent".
The situation is different with the former offices on the upper floors, which Eicher has rented out to long-distance drivers. However, they are now afraid that they will have to move out. Streu says that this is indeed the private problem of the owner: "We can understand the situation, but road safety is the biggest concern for us in this case." Eicher had been offered to temporarily replace parking spaces in the center of the village for the residents.
In the meantime, another conversation has taken place between Eicher and the municipality, in which the situation has been explained again. Eicher now wants to try to do what is necessary to at least preserve the dormitory. However, he is putting his plans to create more living space in the building on hold. In any case, the museum will remain open. "But the future of the Eicher Café is open," he says.
At the Forstern municipal council meeting on Tuesday, June 13, at 19 p.m. in the meeting room of the town hall, the final report for the framework plan for public space in the course of urban development funding will be presented. The traffic planners will also explicitly address the situation around the Eicher building.
