The decision to clear 119 trees on the Munich Ring triggered a belated protest in Unterschleißheim. In an open letter to Mayor Christoph Böck (SPD) and the city councillors, the Bund Naturschutz is “stunned” and acknowledges the removal of an existing wall along with the 40-year-old trees there with “shakes of the head”. The Greens are now demanding a 3D simulation that makes the scenario clear. The matter should be submitted to the people of Unterschleißheim for assessment via the citizen participation platform Consul. Second mayor Tino Schlagintweit (Greens) says that he hopes that public pressure will result in a correction of the decision made by the city council’s environmental and building committees at the end of November.
The conflict reveals a dilemma that is well known in the densely populated district of Munich: it is getting tighter and tighter. The population is growing, new and larger schools have to be built. In addition, the widest possible, comfortable footpaths and cycle paths should be created so that everyone can travel in a climate-friendly manner in the future. And of course, in view of global warming, the main focus is on the urban climate and the preservation of greenery. But balancing everything is sometimes difficult.
The Munich Ring is still flanked by rows of trees. Coming to the left of the Le Crès Bridge, the wall is to be removed.
(Photo: Robert Haas)
In Unterschleissheim, the specific case involves the redesign of the central intersection of the Munich Ring and Raiffeisenstrasse, where the Michael-Ende elementary school is being rebuilt for around 70 million euros and a fast cycle path is to lead to the city center. For a long time, the preservation of the wall seemed to be a compromise that everyone could have lived with. But in the decisive meeting at the end of November, according to participants, there was suddenly a majority beyond the Greens and ÖDP for a complete redesign. “Urgent demands from urban planning for climate change adaptation have been thrown overboard,” says Schlagintweit, and asks: “Stachus instead of school?”
The chairwoman of the Schleissheim Nature Conservation Union, Birgit Annecke-Patsch, raises the question of whether those responsible “were unaffected by the signs of the times”. “What irony,” she says, that an educational institution should give way to trees. Students would later have to pay the bill for such a policy. The actions of the city council remind her of the clear-cutting of the rest of the Lohwald for the construction of the technical college.
The accusation: The wall only had to give way for architectural and aesthetic reasons
How bad the whole thing is, of course, is debatable. The other side also has arguments. On the one hand, only 25 of the 119 trees would be saved by preserving the wall, which was ultimately the issue. Some of the trees have to be removed anyway for the expansion of the footpath and cycle path, a large part for the construction of the school. SPD parliamentary group leader Thomas Breitenstein speaks of an overall “difficult decision” that was discussed intensively in his parliamentary group. The decisive factor was to create a 2.5 meter wide sidewalk for the many school children who will be walking there in the future. Two parking spaces are important at crossings over the street, and the fast bike path too.
Breitenstein rejects the accusation by the Greens that the wall only has to go for aesthetic reasons so that the new school on the Munich Ring has an architectural appearance. Rather, an important argument was the poor condition of the vegetation on the wall. Beautiful trees would be replanted, which would guarantee “good shading of the schoolyard”.
Mayor and deputy: Christoph Böck (SPD, left) feels bound by the decision that Tino Schlagintweit (Greens) would like to revise.
(Photo: Sebastian Gabriel)
In theory, the resolutions could be revised. City Hall manager Thomas Stockerl says that if there are new findings or a new development, such a resubmission is possible. In addition, of course, any councilor can submit an application. Tino Schlagintweit is hoping for a change of heart, including with the mayor. Meanwhile, Christoph Böck (SPD) feels bound by the decision, which has been thoroughly prepared by the administration and planners in several variants. The city councilors had decided “in a responsible and not easy balance between safety for school children, design of the school forecourt and the preservation of as many trees as possible”.
The Bund Naturschutz would have liked more creativity. According to Schlagintweit, one idea would have been to take the example of the gardeners of the Baroque era, who would have created views of castles in parks with targeted openings in ramparts and walls. In his opinion, partially opening up the wall, preserving it and creating visual axes to the school would be an intelligent solution.