UKW fears more cars and thus obstacles for pedestrians and cyclists
Kelkheim – The parking lot statute of the city of Kelkheim will be changed. In the case of new apartment buildings with four or more apartments within a radius of 500 meters from the train stations, only one parking space will have to be proven in future instead of the previous two. The coalition of CDU, SPD and FDP with the Free Voters Kelkheim pushed through this change in the city parliament. UKW and Ivaloo Schölzel (non-attached, free voters) spoke against it. It is also part of the application that electromechanical parking systems such as double parkers and parking lifts are permitted. The owners are responsible for maintaining them and repairing them if necessary.
So far the facts. However, there was an intensive discussion in Parliament. Markus Göllner (UKW) emphasized that the time was not yet ripe for this. The application will increase the pressure in public parking spaces. Especially in areas with apartment buildings like the Berliner Ring, people will “look longer for parking spaces in the evening”. The turnaround in traffic is underway, according to Göllner. But the switch to the train is not so far that many people do without a car because of it.
Rita Born project becomes more realistic
In addition, it is not clear to UKW who the coalition wants to support with its application. This would help real estate farmers “more than the turnaround in traffic,” emphasized Göllner, indirectly addressing the project of the former Rita Born department store. It also failed due to a lack of parking spaces and is currently not a showcase location in the city. With the change in the statutes, implementation would be much more realistic.
If more cars have to park outside, that would be a restriction for pedestrians and cyclists with “even more obstacles,” argued Göllner. The UKW sees the attempt here according to the motto: “What doesn’t fit will be made to fit.” The parliamentary group could initially imagine such an application in a radius of 100 meters around the train stations – in order to then talk together about a holistic concept of the statute. The alliance, however, stayed the course. Discussions have been going on for over a year, several times in the committees, “the time is ripe,” said Patrick Falk (FDP). “We want people to use public transport more.” In addition, the construction industry should be boosted. Falk had examples for comparison: Even in Wiesbaden there is a factor of one for parking spaces in the city center, the foundation “living cities” calls this number. In Baden-Württemberg under a Green Prime Minister, the “1” is given around the train stations, in Offenbach even 0.7 applies, according to the FDP man. Above all, however, the city should see that it controls the misappropriation of the garages on the property, Falk once again demanded fines.
This annoyed Mayor Albrecht Kündiger (UKW). Because the construction supervision of the district, not the city, is responsible for this. The subject of garages is “at the bottom of the chain” there, which is why “not much will happen there”. Kündiger to Falk: “Don’t always represent this nonsense.” And a comparison with cities like Offenbach or Wiesbaden is limping because their public transport network is much better developed. In general, he is concerned “that the problems you want to solve will get bigger”. Because there is already increased parking pressure around the train stations. Local public transport has not been developed in such a way that it can noticeably ban cars. The mayor doubts that the coalition is only concerned with the traffic turnaround. She is more likely to be “doing a favor for an investor who isn’t getting anywhere else.” Kündiger warned: “There are many reasons to change the parking space statute. But this change comes too soon for Kelkheim.”
Schölzel jumped in to help him. People would hardly respond to the “forced to take the train” with this application. “They tend to look for other ways and park in such a way that not even the fire brigade can get through.” Families who depend on a second car would also be “punished”, according to Schölzel.