The city of Erding wanted to develop a completely new residential area with a ban on all fossil fuels, including biomass.
However, the planning and building committee found itself in a classic dilemma.
Erding - Up to now, local politicians have primarily concerned themselves with development plans about what the future houses will look like - height, roof pitches, windows, dormers.
Climate change is now forcing city and local councils to pay attention not only to the roofs (keyword: photovoltaic systems), but especially underground.
How new settlements are heated with as little or as little CO2 as possible is playing an increasingly important role.
The city of Erding now wanted to develop a completely new residential area with a ban on all fossil fuels, including biomass.
It's about the area Haager Straße Ost between B388 and Ludwig-Simmet-Anger in Altenerding.
However, only the western settlement area on Haager Straße/Almenrauschstraße was discussed.
The eastern one towards the federal highway has not yet progressed that far.
The planning and construction committee found itself in a classic dilemma on Tuesday evening: climate-friendly (urban) construction not only makes the projects more expensive, it also increases the bureaucracy considerably - neither of which is actually wanted, emphasized Mayor Max Gotz (CSU ) again and again.
However, the ban will not come like this.
It was only decided that investors must adhere to the new Building Energy Act (GEG), i.e. at least 65 percent of the heat output must be generated from renewable sources.
Opinions in the committee differed as to whether this was a success.
The majority was of the opinion: The development plan was drawn up before the GEG, so they were taking a pioneering role.
The two Green councilors, however, said that the GEG, which has been in force since January 1, 2024, must be applied anyway because building applications for the settlement can only be submitted once the development plan has come into force.
For Herbert Maier and Stefan Lorenz, the proposal did not go far enough - and rejected the approval decision.
After the debate it was clear: both sides are right.
The city council originally wanted a complete ban on fossil heat carriers.
But then electricity for heat pumps would also be eliminated.
At the meeting, Thomas Knecht presented his engineering office's energy and climate concept.
Das had examined several supply solutions: decentralized district heating supply, several heat pump variants and the use of waste heat from a biogas plant in Ammersdorf, almost two kilometers away.
That and the heat pumps would actually be a novelty in Erdinger's urban development.
One evaluation criterion was climate protection.
In Knecht's opinion, the application of the GEG alone does not take this into account.
The building standard EH-40 and especially the passive house standard, each with photovoltaic systems, performed better.
The committee decided to adopt these requirements.
This means that later investors have to adhere to it.
It is unclear which heating option you choose.
The engineer reported that they had approached the operator of the biogas plant, who could imagine this.
However, there was a message about what would happen if the facility was abandoned.
“Then the municipal utilities can take over the network,” suggested Knecht.
Gotz rejected this: “Nobody assumes the risk of a used system.”
Burkhard Köppen (CSU) also pointed out the balancing act, “that construction should be as cheap as possible, but we also want to achieve the climate protection goals”.
We have to find solutions today for the next 70 or 80 years.
Gotz said: “This discrepancy is the reason why housing construction is completely at a standstill.”
To this end, another development plan was completely repealed, the “An der Westumgehung” from 1982. It includes the police, the Red Cross House and the two special schools.
The building administration's justification: The plan fulfilled its intended use, and in the meantime there are new requirements for the extent of the building's use.
Regardless of this, the BRK rescue station is to be converted and expanded, as is the integrated control center.