As of: March 23, 2024, 7:28 a.m
By: Dominik Stallein
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Refugees have been living in the Filigranhalle in Geretsried's north industrial area since 2016.
Now another accommodation could be built directly adjacent to it.
© SH/Archive
Almost everywhere in the district, asylum accommodation is being built that the communities don't want.
How can that be?
And who decides?
Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen - The building committee in Wolfratshausen doesn't want them.
And the committee in Geretsried also said no to all building applications.
The city of Bad Tölz is even complaining.
And residents do it too.
New accommodation for asylum seekers is being rejected in droves.
Most of them can be expected to be built anyway - because they are urgently needed.
District Administrator Josef Niedermaier explains how this can be in an interview with our newspaper.
He also explains the special role of the district building authority.
Trouble about accommodation: City councilors refuse, but construction is still going on - district administrator explains how it works
The lower building supervisory authority is part of the state district office - it enforces applicable building law.
As head of the authority, Niedermaier is authorized to issue instructions, but is legally bound.
This means: If the structural requirements for a permit are met, it must be granted.
The cases in which the district building authority replaces the community agreement - this is the name of the practice of overruling a "no" from the local council - are increasing more and more.
“Münsing is the laudable exception,” reports Niedermaier.
“In almost all other communities, applications for new accommodation are rejected.”
District Administrator Josef Niedermaier © arp
Municipalities say no to accommodation - usually for political reasons
The municipalities’ “no” is usually for political reasons.
However, the district building authority checks according to building legal formalities - regardless of whether the planned project is an asylum accommodation with 150 places or a gazebo.
It is also completely irrelevant who is planning the new building.
“Even in cases in which we, the district, have planned and applied for the construction, this is checked according to the same formalities and in the same process,” states the district administrator.
“The district building office then sends just as official letters to the district office as to any other building applicant,” explains authority spokeswoman Marlis Peischer.
Both departments are housed in the same building.
“But they won’t let themselves be talked into it,” says Niedermaier.
“It’s like a third-party application.
This separation works.
And that's how it has to be." Because every building permit can be complained about - and if a procedure doesn't follow the official, clean path, plaintiffs have an easy time of it: "Every lawyer first looks for a procedural error," says Niedermaier.
By taking the correct approach, accusations of cheating can be quickly put to rest.
Niedermaier emphasizes: “Every plan is checked very carefully.”
Protest against asylum homes: Geretsried's mayor sees “constitutionally protected property” in danger
There is increasing protest against this practice.
Recently there was trouble in the building committee of the Geretsried city council.
Mayor Michael Müller was outraged by the procedure: “This is a de facto overriding of the municipalities’ right to self-government.” Müller sees the municipality’s planning sovereignty – “a constitutionally protected asset” – threatened by the subsequent approvals from the district building authority.
Niedermaier contradicts: The right of communities to self-government is subject to certain limits - namely when there is a legal basis.
The district building authority also has to adhere to municipal regulations and statutes - such as development plans.
“They are the law.” Only if the community has acted legally incorrectly can the agreement be replaced.
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However, Geretsried's town hall boss isn't completely wrong.
“Yes, there is an interference with self-determination, but it is permissible,” admits Niedermaier.
This is necessary in order to be able to realize the urgently needed communal accommodation.
That is why the federal government has changed some – according to Niedermaier “massive” – exception options in the building code.
“The legislature did this out of necessity.” Through paragraph 246, the district building authority can issue appropriate permits or exemptions.
Accommodation for refugees and asylum seekers can also be built in commercial areas, for example - unlike residential complexes.
Accommodation planned in Wolfratshausen: 144 places are to be in the commercial area
Large accommodation for 144 people is planned in Wolfratshausen.
The city council rejected it - but assumes that the facility will be built anyway.
It was applied for by a private investor – as is often the case with asylum accommodation.
Niedermaier cannot predict the outcome of the review, but is confident about the building permit for the accommodation.
“Of course, we do not submit any applications that we believe would not stand up to legal scrutiny,” says the head of the authority.
There is no guarantee.
There were also cases in which the district building authority rejected applications for accommodation.
Meanwhile, the allocation of asylum seekers to the district does not stop - refugees arrive regularly.
“Our capacities last until May,” explains Niedermaier.
Then new arrivals in the district can no longer be accommodated.
“If an accommodation goes somewhere and it can be implemented, and we have an investor for the project - we can't do everything ourselves - then we have to take it,” summarizes Niedermaier.
Even if there are understandable local objections to the construction - "they exist in every single accommodation" - the pressure to generate places is greater.
Refugees in gyms: “Accommodation that really hurts the population”
It is not only important for newly arriving asylum seekers that accommodation is created in the district.
“It's a very simple rule of three: the more accommodation we get, the faster we can open the gyms again.” Sports facilities are “suboptimal accommodation that really hurts the population”.
Press spokeswoman Peischer notes: In order to free up a gymnasium in Wolfratshausen, for example, new accommodation would not automatically have to be created in Wolfratshausen.
District Administrator Niedermaier recently spoke of 1,000 places that are currently being planned.
The processes vary in scope.
“How quickly they actually come depends on how the process goes.” When asked, Niedermaier did not give a forecast as to how the respective tests would turn out.
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