In 1988 there were still two German states, at the Wiesn a mass cost 6.60 marks, the football champion was Werder Bremen, and in Munich the city council passed a resolution for the development plan 1638, which affects an area in Ramersdorf east of Ottobrunner Straße – the so-called strawberry field.
Since then, the world has changed in many respects, but from a planning perspective, hardly anything has progressed on the area used for agriculture in summer. To this day, there is still no legally binding development plan for the strawberry field – a situation for which the city and property owners hold each other responsible.
Of course, the lack of a mission statement did not mean that the site remained undeveloped. “One corner after the other is being nibbled on from the 1638 area,” says Wolfgang Thalmeir (CSU) from the district committee (BA) Ramersdorf-Perlach, annoyed, with a view to various completed, ongoing and planned construction projects. Thalmeir criticizes that there is no overarching planning because these are assessed in accordance with Section 34 of the Building Code in the absence of a development plan. The result: building owners are making maximum use of their building rights. In addition, there is neither a reasonable traffic and green planning for the area, nor is the necessary infrastructure taken into account – such as schools, day care centers and shops.
The BA has therefore repeatedly – but mostly in vain – spoken out against construction projects on the strawberry field, which is bordered by Wolf-Huber-Weg in the east, by Deacon-Kerolt-Weg in the north and by Gleißnerstraße in the south. The committee recently also rejected a preliminary request for the construction of a residential complex on the property at Ottobrunner Straße 3, where there are currently around 120 trees. Some of this valuable stock would fall victim to development, the local politicians justified their criticism. They also considered the plans to be oversized.
However, at the meeting of the BA working group on construction projects and urban planning, the property owner emphasized that he did not want to build the residential complex described in the preliminary inquiry. Rather, he is “only concerned with querying existing building rights,” said Bernhard Gerstenkorn, managing owner of the nearby Seebauer garden center. To finance its expansion, he wants to sell a large part of the property at Ottobrunner Strasse 3. He is currently in negotiations with the city, said Gerstenkorn. “That’s why it’s important for me to assess what will be possible there afterwards.”
If the sale goes ahead, the city would be the second-largest landowner in the zoning 1638 area, increasing the chances that planning would move forward there. For this reason, the BA has explicitly spoken out in favor of a purchase. At the same time, the committee repeated its call for a ban on changes to the area. This is intended to put pressure on the city, explains Thalmeir. Because after the up to four-year ban on changes has expired, the property owners could file claims for compensation – provided that the planning continues to stall.
The city council faction of ÖDP/Munich Liste has also demanded a ban on changes – but only for the sub-area Ottobrunner Straße 3. In order to protect the trees there, they should also be designated as a natural monument, according to their application. The city planning committee will deal with this at its meeting on February 9th.
Then it will also be about an application from the citizens’ assembly, which – analogous to the efforts of the BA – calls for a ban on changes to the strawberry field construction area. However, Wolfgang Thalmeir assesses the chances of success as low. “I fear we will lose this area completely – without any planning,” he predicts. “This is a prime example of how urban planning shouldn’t work.”