For some people, the word “excavation work” has an ominous connotation. Perhaps because they witnessed how construction companies damaged the roots of trees when laying cables. Verena Adels from Forstenried is one such victim. Her story, which has not yet come to an end, began in 2017.
At that time, Stadtwerke München moved to Bauweberstraße to lay a power line in the ground. The workers are said to have moved so close to their property with their equipment that the widely branched roots of four mighty 60 to 80 year old spruce trees were affected. During a similar construction maneuver on Bauweberstraße in 2022, workers cut another tree root, which the city administration believes is “statically irrelevant”.
Since then, the qualified engineer from the south of Munich has been fighting bitterly with various authorities for the evidence, the follow-up costs of the mishap in 2017 and the order for a replacement planting. The relevant correspondence now fills folders. What has been driving Verena Adels to despair for almost six years: Although the facts are obvious, the city does not take a step towards her. She has already contacted a number of addressees in the local government in order to settle the matter halfway amicably.
From their point of view, the advances have so far ended without result, almost Kafkaesque – all efforts have been in vain, stacks of letters to the city administration have achieved: nothing. “At no time did I have the slightest chance of intervening anywhere,” Adels summed up at an on-site visit. She sees an “incomprehensible arrogance” on the part of the authorities, which is expressed in the fact that her matter “was not dealt with at all for months”. And in the fact that, as a resident, she was not even informed in advance about the excavation work.
The city requires two new trees for the felled group of trees
Adels is currently fighting a conflict with the local building commission and the lower nature conservation authority. Because the group of trees, whose roots were damaged, is gradually becoming a danger to passers-by and residents of the house, she felt compelled to apply for their felling. The reaction was not only to approve this project; at the same time they were asked to plant two replacement trees in their own garden. But there is no room for it, Adels asserts. And she doesn’t see that she should pay for the costs of all the measures, which could easily add up to a five-digit amount. For Verena Adels, the city has a duty here, because it is ultimately responsible for the unsuccessful excavation work of that time.
The department for urban planning and building regulations commented on the allegations on request, and it doesn’t look as if a solution in the sense of the outraged woman from Forstenried is in the offing. The extent of possible root damage during the excavation work carried out in 2017 “can no longer be fully elucidated,” says a department spokesman. However, it is clear that the road safety obligation for the four “near the border spruces” at Bauweberstraße 5 lies with the owner. It is her decision when to make use of the felling permit that has been granted. This is initially valid for two years, but can be extended by the same period.
The planning department defends the demand to plant two replacement trees “of the smaller growth class 2” for the loss of the four spruce trees of growth class 1. This edition appears “reasonable”. No question of paying the costs. Finally, the note that damage to private property would “usually be clarified promptly with the person who caused the damage under private law”.
From Verena Adel’s point of view, that’s exactly what didn’t work: “Neither the city nor their insurance company recognize the damage at all. For them, my spruce trees apparently had broken roots before the excavation work. Which is complete nonsense.”