It is “a major encroachment on personal rights and freedom rights” if the Baierbrunners are no longer allowed to decide on their own what happens there. With these words, the SPD municipal councilor Uwe Harfich criticized the Greens’ push for a tree protection ordinance at the most recent meeting of the building committee. In the end, however, he was alone with this opinion, all other municipal councils spoke out in favor of the enactment of an ordinance to protect the tree population in Baierbrunn. How exactly this should be formulated and how strict it should be, however, still needs to be discussed.
The Greens Peter Tilmann and Robert Gerb argued that by felling a tree, “insects, birds and billions of microbes” were deprived of their habitat. Anyone who does this must also take responsibility for it, for example in the form of replanting or as a compensation payment – and this can only be ensured by means of a tree protection ordinance.
For Harfich, on the other hand, this is “a pure prohibition rule”. He also interjected that lots are getting smaller and that replanting a tree isn’t always practical or possible. There are also many good reasons to fell a tree on your own property. For example, if you inherit a house from your parents or grandparents and want to convert it.
Robert Gerb also sees opportunities to cut down a tree with such plans. But citizens shouldn’t do this at their own discretion, they should have to ask the community. He mentioned large, old beeches that are very valuable for climate protection. The Greens had included the Pullach Ordinance as a model for a Baierbrunn tree protection ordinance. However, Mayor Patrick Ott (non-partisan voter group, ÜWG) pointed out that this was very strict and reported that Pullach had to make corrections to his regulation due to legal problems. He and others therefore recommended the Neubiberg Tree Protection Ordinance as a model, because it was “more liberal”.
Ott pointed out that the enactment of such an ordinance would entail a number of things. So you need staff for the implementation, either a new position to be created, an increase in hours or external experts. “We don’t want toothless statutes,” he said, also referring to Schäftlarn. The municipality has a tree protection ordinance, but does not implement it. Alexander Lechner (ÜWG) also admitted that he had “wobbled” when it came to such a regulation. The previous tree fellings in Baierbrunn were mostly appropriate. Robert Gerb, on the other hand, had other memories and mentioned at least one case that he “didn’t want to experience again”.