The city councilors did not have in mind a departure from the principle of “building law before tree law” when they commissioned the administration in October 2023 to fundamentally change the 48-year-old tree protection ordinance. However, the new version is intended to bring real improvements after the regulations were only slightly modified, most recently in 2013. Astrid Sacher, head of the tree protection authority in the planning department, and her colleague Ulrich Uehlein have now publicly presented the basic principles of the reform. The draft will be made public in the spring and the people of Munich will then be able to contribute their ideas. A city council resolution could follow before the end of the year.
In terms of space, the protected area, which covers just over half of the city area, is only growing by around two percent. On the other hand, the tightening of the most well-known criterion promises a greater effect: to date, the protection has been effective from a trunk circumference of 80 centimeters at a height of one meter, which corresponds to a diameter of approximately 25 centimeters. In the future, trees with a circumference of 60 centimeters or more (around 19 centimeters in diameter) will be subject to the regulation. The stricter measure already applies in Frankfurt, Hanover, Würzburg and six other German cities. Only Rostock, Erfurt and Kaiserslautern currently set an even tighter limit of 50 centimeters. “New plantings will grow into the protection more quickly,” hopes Sacher.
The city also wants to make the protective umbrella much broader when it comes to the types of trees protected. In the future, this will include fruit trees, of which only six species were previously protected, but not least climbing plants – after all, facade greenery plays a key role in heat protection. The circumferences are added together for multi-stemmed plants, but this should not result in a shrub protection regulation, emphasizes Sacher. Rather, a limit value should apply to the main trunk, which still needs to be worked out.
In general, Sacher and Uehlein announce stricter controls, but expressly do not assume that their fellow citizens are particularly fond or careless of using chainsaws. Where trees have to be removed for building projects or for age or safety reasons and replacements are possible, the city council resolution from last autumn also confirms that Munich residents have a high “planting ethic”. The tree balance from felling and planting on private property is still around 2,300 trees per year in the red. Landowners did not have to replant the trees that fell victim to the spring hurricane “Niklas” in 2015.
After previously sticking to random samples, the city has been checking around 60 percent of the replanting and replacement plantings for approved fellings since 2018. The quota should increase to 100 percent. The treasury department is also likely to get involved in the upcoming city council discussion. Tree protection needs more employees – in the field, but also at the desks, where 10 to 15 percent more felling applications are likely to land due to the 60 centimeter limit alone, as Sacher estimates.
Financial compensation, where replacement planting is not possible or sensible, will become significantly more expensive with the new version, but not in order to finance personnel expenses. In the future, the funds will go directly to new plantings in public areas (which already partially compensate for the private sector deficit). The previous income from the flat rate of 750 euros per tree has flowed primarily into green maintenance. Depending on the size, condition and location of the tree, four-digit amounts are expected to be charged, usually between 2,000 and 5,000 euros. Basically, “we want trees and not money,” assured Uehlein. If in doubt, builders should plant rather than pay – up to four large replacement trees where particularly magnificent specimens have to be felled.
“More courage,” calls for the Nature Conservation Union
Initial reactions are mixed: Arne Brach (Greens), for example, who, as one of 25 district tree protection officers, keeps an eye on the situation in Ludwigs- and Isarvorstadt, sees Munich moving into the “upper middle range” of German municipalities with the “overdue” reform.
Martin Hänsel from the Federal Nature Conservation Association (BN) takes a stricter view. The 60 centimeter limit is going in the right direction, but the new compensation payments remain completely inadequate. The old 750 euro flat rate was “absolutely ridiculous, downright childish” anyway, but the new amount, at around 5,000 euros for a large tree, is just a third of the amount that the city estimates for its own new plantings and their care. According to Hänsel’s assessment, a compensation of 15,000 euros per tree could encourage builders to replan.
The BN managing director also calls for “more courage” where tree protection reaches the limits of building law or is even ignored in an illegal way: The fine limit of up to 0.5 million euros is not even used in fractions, as is also the city council paper confirmed from autumn 2023. It also states that illegal felling cannot in principle be punished with the withdrawal or reduction of building rights or that restrictions on the space covered by underground car parks are not legally enforceable. For Hansel, these remain “manslaughter arguments”, supported by a comfortable legal opinion. He would like to see this reviewed in court: In order to further develop the jurisprudence for tree protection, the city must “sue and be sued. It needs lawsuits, including lost ones.”