All members of the municipal council wish that the Poinger railway underpass in the town center should also be greener on the northern side of the station. It quickly became clear during the most recent meeting of the municipal council that there will be no agreement on specific greening plans at the current time – there are too many imponderables in the room. For this reason, one wants to wait until the structural measures that have already been decided on have been implemented and the planting measures carried out on the north-eastern side have grown.
Plans on how the north side of the underpass for pedestrians and cyclists, which opened a good two years ago, can become less gray and more green have been discussed several times – most recently at the municipal council meeting in early June. Since the work on the barrier-free access to the platforms had been completed, it was now possible to devote attention to the greening. The committee members decided unanimously to plant a zebra crossing in the vicinity of the bus stop in addition to planting in a north-easterly direction. Whether, as suggested by landscape architect Annette Wrulich, a green island of 150 square meters should be created on the asphalt surface in front of it, was not decided.
During a site visit, the effects of a green space were assessed
Instead, they agreed on a site visit. In this way, it should be ensured that pedestrians and cyclists are not disturbed by a green island on their way to and from the S-Bahn platform. Equipped with pylons, the members of the environmental committee met at the northern ramp at the end of June and marked out the green island.
There was great agreement locally at the time, as Mayor Thomas Stark (independent) said when asked: A green island of 150 square meters goes too far up the ramp, the distance to the bus stop is too small for pedestrian flows between the bus and the S-Bahn to run smoothly can run. The traffic cones were moved back and forth until, in addition to the original variant, there were three more that were now up for voting. The fifth option was to completely cancel the plans for a green island.
Herbert Lanzl (CSU) spoke out in favor of this on behalf of his parliamentary group. “The situation there will change a lot because of the zebra crossing,” he said. “We should first wait and see the big picture when the planting to the north-east of the underpass has fully developed.”
The bus stop has to be moved a few meters through the zebra crossing
When asked, Mayor Stark explained that the bus stop would have to be moved a few meters to the east and west as part of the planned zebra crossing. A minimum distance of five meters is required for stopping and parking in front of a zebra crossing. The crossing aid is expected to be displayed this autumn, and changes will be made to the bus stop and the marking of stopping zones for buses.
The SPD faction shared the concerns of the CSU. “We would like to wait and see how the flows develop,” said Dominik Hohl. The FDP also agreed, Marc Salih proposed the extension of variant five: The plans for a green island are initially omitted – as soon as the pedestrian and cyclist paths are better foreseeable, the topic should be put back on the agenda.
The asphalt heats up extremely, especially on hot summer days
Different opinions could be heard from the Greens and FWG parliamentary groups. Valentin Mágori pointed out that Poing belongs to the climate protection region. “I don’t understand how you can speak out against a green.” The Greens saw it almost unanimously as well. “It was shown on site that the green island doesn’t bother anyone,” said Yvonne Großmann. She referred to the past hot Tuesday, such days will be more and more common in the future. “The dark asphalt heats up extremely, we just need green spaces there!”
The heated asphalt was also the reason for an objection from landscape architect Wrulich. Because the smallest variant would only measure 65 square meters – too small an area for trees: the asphalt heats up to up to 60 degrees, the branches would hang over it. “I have serious concerns as to whether the trees will grow at all under these circumstances.”
Little space and many people make no sense for Franz Langlechner
Franz Langlechner (CSU) emphasized the charm that the fifth variant would have – because the design would initially remain open to the future. In his opinion, it makes no sense to leave the least space exactly where most people move. “Once we’ve cut a hole in the asphalt, nobody will close it for us again.”
The vast majority in the municipal council saw it the same way: with five dissenting votes from the Greens and FWG parliamentary groups, the committee decided to postpone the decision on the concrete implementation of the green island to a later date.