Once a year the Planegger municipal council retires for a two-day retreat, usually in a hotel or accommodation in the Bavarian Oberland. The topics to be addressed in the current budget year are discussed in a relaxed atmosphere and the first preliminary decisions are made. In an interview, Mayor Hermann Nafziger (CSU) tells us where the journey is going.
SZ: Mr. Nafziger, which topics were the focus of the exam in October?
Nafziger: The big and all-encompassing question is: Where do we want to go? There is a dichotomy: we cannot please everyone. In Planegg in particular, we are facing major challenges: 2023 will most likely be a year in which we will have to go into debt again after a long time. There are big projects that we want and need to tackle.
The biggest is likely to be the planned acquisition of the Heide-Volm property. We are talking about a sum of over 20 million euros for around 14,000 square meters in a prime location. Can the community even raise such sums or would it not be better to leave the whole thing to an investor?
We are a healthy church and financially strong. This property is a win and a challenge in every way. Building it up well has been the greatest challenge for Planegg in recent decades.
Buying it would entail high levels of debt …
This is a filet property, I see no risk at all. We are currently having an appraisal determine the fair market value. And don’t forget: we have the trump cards in hand. Because the municipality determines the building law. The value of this property remains and will continue to increase.
How are the negotiations going?
Of course, I cannot go into detail here. But you start to get closer. I want consensus, and I want an agreement to be reached in the next few months.
So the Planeggers don’t have to live for years with a huge excavation pit and rubble at the train station?
No, I assume so. We finally want to get started.
What about the results of the various architectural competitions that are already taking place?
Hermann Nafziger (CSU) was elected mayor of Planegg in the local elections in March 2020.
(Photo: Robert Haas)
Of course we have to reschedule again. There are also so many ideas: housing, shops, infrastructure facilities, a supermarket, underground garages. And it has not yet been decided whether our police department wants to go to the train station, as we have offered. We really want to keep the police in place. We are eagerly awaiting this decision, a lot depends on it. Everything is in the river.
Which projects are still in the foreground?
The underground construction is now really getting underway – a huge opportunity for Planegg and Martinsried. The infrastructural advantages of the mass transport are huge, incidentally also for the neighboring science campus. We also have to expand our provision for children, which is in the double-digit millions. The recycling center needs to be renovated. The renovation of the apartments on Münchner Strasse alone cost us five million euros, and we need more social living space.
Looks like you have a secret cornucopia?
I’m sure: 2021 will also be a good year financially – despite Corona. Planegg is a great community.
Doesn’t the community lose face when it comes to expansion or urbanization? For example about the enlargement of the industrial area in Steinkirchen?
We will not take the basic character of Planegg, we will remain a green community. But growth also offers a great opportunity for social institutions or new apartments, for more climate protection. We definitely cannot afford to let our big companies and business taxpayers go. The expansion in Steinkirchen will be environmentally friendly. We also have to invest in the environment and in climate protection in other ways. The ecology-economy balance has to be right. My motto is: get the funds first and then do it.