Around 100 people took part in a demonstration on Saturday against the construction of a hotel car park in the forest near the Tuscany peninsula. For the 227 parking spaces of the planned hotel at Landschloss Ort, 5800 square meters of forest would have to be cleared. Instead, the critics of the clearing call for the existing Tuscany car park to be compacted or a parking deck built on top of it. Under no circumstances should further ground be sealed or even forest sacrificed.
The rally was organized by the “Forest instead of a parking lot” initiative. The participants moved from the existing Tuscany car park along the lake promenade to Schillerplatz near the town hall. Among them were mandataries of the Gmunden Greens and the Neos.
The municipality is currently investigating how much it would cost taxpayers to densify the existing Tuscany car park as an alternative to the planned car park in the forest. The hotel builders say that the new parking lot in the forest would cost them around 900,000 euros. They would be ready for an alternative solution, but would not contribute more than this amount.
But even if the existing Tuscany car park were only to be compacted, significantly higher costs can be expected, explain Mayor Stefan Krapf (ÖVP) and mobility officer Reinhold Kassmannhuber (ÖVP parliamentary group). The reason: because the drainage requirements have become significantly stricter, the Tuscany car park would have to be practically rebuilt. But how much money is the city willing to spend?
In order to have a basis for discussion, the city council is now having the costs determined in agreement with the hotel project participants. The Greens welcome this step: “It shows that there are still opportunities for a better solution,” says municipal councilor Peter Grundnig.
Source: Nachrichten
