Antonia palladino is not exactly thrilled. "That is already stupid, if the parking lot is no longer available here", says the student teacher. She has just parked her fiat panda in front of the breitenau parking lot; many cars fill the parking bays on this warm gay friday afternoon, but there are still enough free spaces.
For the student from scheblitz, the parking lot at breitenau, like for many of her fellow students, is an indispensable stop on the way to lectures and seminars in feldkirchenstrabe and the city center. The coarse facility with parking garage and 928 parking spaces is quickly accessible, sufficiently coarse and with the semester ticket as good as free of charge.
But the days of parking at plarrerplatz have been paid for since the city sold the land to the brose group at the end of may. Only up to 31. March of next year, but at the latest by the end of december, the average of 350 parking lot users per day will have the knowledge that they can park their car.
After that the construction machines will start. According to the current plan, the automotive supplier brose will build two office buildings with an impressive 35,000 square meters of usable space on the surface of the parking pallet, the adjacent plarrerplatz and the site of the TSV eintracht soccer club; the second building will be erected almost exactly where the parking garage still stands today. By way of comparison, the ertl center in hallstadt has 22,000 square meters of floor space.
The park and ride facility that is currently under construction is not particularly old. It was only built in 1999 to provide convenient parking for visitors to the parish and commuters driving to bamberg from the north and east.
The upcoming demolition is part of a package of measures with which mayor andreas stark (SPD) and the city council, with rare courage, made it possible for the automotive supplier to settle in the city. "We are prepared to go to the pain threshold to make the settlement possible", was the slogan issued by the head of the city at the end of may.
All in all, the city is letting the prospect of 1,200 jobs and considerable business tax revenues cost it 11.5 million euros. Among other things, they are investing in the upgrading of the airfield, new sports facilities in the volkspark, the relocation of a power line and the construction of a new park and ride facility on kronacher strabe, where the innovation and basic center is located. The land already belongs to the city; a new ground-level building for 440 parking spaces could be erected here comparatively cheaply at 420,000 euros.
Gross is the risk for the city that the demolition of the park will add millions in costs that are not yet included in the budget of 11.5 million euro. This has nothing to do with the technical cost of the demolition, which is estimated at 1.5 million euros and, according to the sales contract, will be taken over by the brose group. It is the demand funds, which have flowed into the stately plant, no less than 4.9 million euros. Almost half of the money had to be paid back to the donor, the government, according to the usual procedure, because the commitment period for projects built with funds under the financial equalization act is 25 years.
A heavy burden for the city of bamberg, which will reach its limits in the next few years anyway due to the costs of the settlement and also the conversion of the US sites? As ulrike siebenhaar, spokeswoman for the city of bamberg, explained, the city has already begun talks with the government with the aim of drastically reducing the sum and crediting it to the new building on kronacher strabe. One is confident that this will succeed.
Two things made it easier for those responsible to decide on the demolition of a comparatively new property. It has never been used very well in the past years. According to statistics from the city's public utilities department, capacity utilization averaged only 37 to 54 percent. Even on the peak days before christmas, the user rate hardly exceeded 500 parking transactions per day. In addition, breitenau, including the parking pallet, plarrer and sports grounds, is still regarded as an uninviting gateway to the city. According to press spokeswoman siebenhaar, it is only "old rubbish". Now there is a chance that attractive new buildings will finally create an appealing entrance to the city. "This can also be an initial foundation for the development in the neighborhood. It should not be forgotten that we currently have a rough wasteland on the HWKW site."
The city council factions have mixed feelings about the decision. Former mayor herbert lauer, during whose term of office the park was built, finds the demolition regrettable, but has nevertheless agreed to it because he considers the loss to be justifiable. "We have to swallow this risk", says the free-electionist city councilor.
Norbert tscherner (BBB) put aside his concerns because of the prospect of jobs. The non-factional city councillor is, of course, sorry about the large amount of money that the city has to raise for the company. "Above all, I am afraid that the promised tax revenues will not fall in love with it."
Michael bosch is satisfied with the result. The bamberger realist can understand that there is little understanding among the population when a new building is demolished. On the other hand: "the facility was never accepted, but it cost money to maintain it. Basically, we can be glad to get rid of them this way."
