The entrance to the day care center in Poinger Kirchheimer Allee is like a portal into the stench. As soon as the front door is open, an unpleasant smell wafts around your nose. If you then step in, it only gets worse: The smell completely envelops the guests of the daycare center. For seven years, an odor problem has dominated the everyday life of hundreds of children and several teachers. What stinks there? For a long time, the visit of several experts did not shed any light on the darkness, but after several reports there is now a suspicion: The penetrating fragrance note could very likely come from the bathrooms on the ground floor. The local council therefore decided in mid-October to add funds to the budget for a renovation and to advance the plans for this. At the moment, however, the motto is still: day-care center operation is stinking.
The smell is particularly strong in the bathrooms on the ground floor, currently especially in the “red bathroom”. When entering any bathroom, it is like walking against a wall: the air is standing, and you quickly get the feeling that you can no longer breathe properly. Even after the constant ventilation, which is on the program for several hours a day due to the corona protection regulations, the stench cannot be dispelled, as Kita manager Elke Haas explains. The smell is difficult to put into words, some describe it as a rotten smell, sweet as it is. Others think it is a special disinfectant because it is also slightly chemical. However, one thing is certain for everyone: it cannot go on like this.
Especially in the “red bath” the stench is particularly strong at the moment.
(Photo: Christian Endt)
The building used to belong to the Diakonie, in 2014 the daycare provider Kinderland PLUS took over it – and with it the stench. The one-story building at that time was supplemented by an upper floor after the takeover. The smell has meanwhile also spread there, but remains particularly noticeable on the ground floor. In some years the odor problem is more pronounced, in other years it is hardly noticeable. How so? Nobody can explain that. “You can’t determine the smell on the basis of a certain weather situation, it is present in good weather as well as in rain”, says the managing director of Kinderland PLUS, Herbert Matzner.
The children are relatively indifferent to the smell in which they spend several hours a day, says daycare manager Elke Haas. “They just accept that. Older children sometimes say it stinks here, but they don’t ask.” They take their lunch menu in a relaxed atmosphere directly opposite the “red bath” – but it is still not really appetizing.
The parents and employees, on the other hand, do notice the smell, especially at home. Karen Reitmayr, mother of a one-year-old girl and member of the parents’ council, finds the odor situation extremely annoying: “My daughter’s clothes and skin smell of it every day. My husband and I are already noticing that this is spreading in the apartment.” She would not take home clothes and diapers stored in the facility for a long time. “I can only throw it all away.” And under these circumstances it is difficult for employees to do office work in the home office. “I can’t take any files or documents home with me, everything stinks,” says Ruxandra Eberl, deputy head of the facility.
Kinderland managing director Herbert Matzner, parenting council member Karen Reitmayr, daycare manager Elke Haas and her deputy Ruxandra Eberl (from left) guide through the daycare rooms.
(Photo: Christian Endt)
The rubbish dump that once existed next to the daycare building leaves a big question mark in this story in the eyes of the employees and the parents’ council. Contaminated sites were disposed of here in the 1990s. Initially, allotment gardens were to be created on the site after the spillage, but this is still not possible due to the unstable soil. “Even the lawnmower sinks in,” says daycare manager Haas. Couldn’t it be that the problem and thus the cause of the stench is the reason?
Ask Mayor Thomas Stark. This assures that the land or the former landfill cannot be related to the odor nuisance. Because soil samples were taken on the site of the daycare center as early as 2011. No findings. And: A health risk from the stench can definitely be ruled out, as Stark already emphasized at the municipal council meeting in October.
The day-care center management and the parents’ council remain skeptical about the cause. Some employees seem to feel uncomfortable despite repeated assurances that a health hazard is definitely excluded. Parents, on the other hand, do not express themselves about such fears.
Mayor Stark knows about the precarious situation in the facility: “Even if there is no health risk, this problem must be addressed. We will do everything possible. In the interests of parents and children, employees and the community.” He has already visited the day-care center several times to get an idea. “I found that smell really bad too.”
Therefore, the renovation plans should move forward as quickly as possible: The manufacturer of the material used in the bathrooms, which experts believe to be the cause of the odor problem according to the latest assessment, has already sent samples of the wall and floor coverings to the town hall, as Stark says. “When I opened the envelope, I immediately thought to myself: Yes, that’s exactly how it smells!”
The refurbishment could take a year
For the children, the renovation could mean a temporary move, because the dust and noise pollution makes it questionable whether a daycare center will remain possible in a familiar environment. This will be decided by the Ebersberg District Office as the responsible supervisory authority – nothing has been finalized yet. Should such a move take place, the educators hope to be able to be divided among the existing groups among other institutions. Because if the children only have to change their rooms and not also their caregivers and friends, then, the teachers agree, this has a positive effect on the time to get used to and spares everyone involved stress – the little ones as well as the big ones.
The responsible engineering office estimates the duration of the renovation work at seven months, Kinderland managing director Matzner, on the other hand, reckons with a year. However, nobody knows how long the work will actually take in the end. And whether the odor problem will actually be resolved with the new bathrooms is likely, but not certain. If the worst comes to the worst, decentralized ventilation devices should provide a remedy. The municipality has already had such investigations carried out; the costs for this would amount to around 145,000 euros.