A good four years after the renovation of the tennis courts in Höhenkirchen, the town council of Höhenkirchen-Siegertsbrunn has given the green light for a similar construction project – this time in Siegertsbrunn. With a unanimous vote, the committee decided to provide the ETC there with up to 500,000 euros for the planned renovation of the facility on Kirchenweg. “This would be another milestone,” Mayor Mindy Konwitschny (SPD) commented on the decision.
The background to the redevelopment plans is the recent upswing in the tennis department at ETC Siegertsbrunn. Contrary to the Germany-wide trend, according to which fewer and fewer people are practicing this sport, the number of members of the tennis club has doubled to 450 in the past five years – mainly thanks to a boom in the children’s and youth sector. As a result, the club’s facility with its seven tennis courts is now reaching its limits. In addition, three of the fields are more than 50 years old and no longer meet the requirements of the Bavarian Tennis Association for tournaments, Chairman Hans Loidl reported to the local council. His ETC therefore had extensive preliminary investigations fathom how the site could be modernized. The result is plans to replace three of the old tennis courts with four new all-weather courts. There are also plans to replace the existing lighting with a new, central floodlight mast. “We would give the tennis year more months and the tennis day more hours,” said Hans Loidl about the planned renovation. Meanwhile, ice skating should still be possible in winter, albeit only on 60 percent of the previous area.
The ETC puts the total cost of the renovation at around 615,000 euros. This sum could be reduced to a good 500,000 euros through personal contributions and the association’s equity, according to Loidl. This amount will now be taken over by the community, after all, the TC Höhenkirchen was also supported with a similar amount in its renovation at the time, said Konwitschny. She reported that treasurer Christine Schmidt had assured her that the municipality could afford this expense.
In return for the support, the ETC Siegertsbrunn wants to forego the annual subsidy from the community for the next 20 years, which would add up to 74,000 euros. This period of time seemed to Martina Hanisch (Independent Citizens) too long. She feared that this could rob the club of its room for maneuver. However, the mayor replied that the TC and the SpVgg Höhenkirchen had made similar waivers when renovating the tennis courts and the hockey field. Because of the equal treatment, this should also be done at the ETC, said Konwitschny, especially since the association has never called on the support so far.
Meanwhile, Roland Spingler (CSU) pleaded that the community should “keep its back free”. Finally, the interest burden on a bank loan would be a heavy burden for the ETC as it cannot provide collateral. This opinion was apparently also shared by the other municipal council members, which is why they voted in unison for a grant of a maximum of half a million euros. The money will be added to the budget for 2022, because the construction work on Kirchenweg should begin and be completed in the coming year.