OHLSDORF. The OÖN reports about the company settlement project of the ex-industrialist Hans Asamer, for which 18 hectares of forest in Ohlsdorf have to be cleared, have raised a lot of dust. The work has already started and should be completed by the summer. The rededication of the forest as a business development area is considered controversial. The Greens in the state parliament also want answers to urgent questions; they will direct an oral request to the responsible regional planning officer, Regional Councilor Markus Achleitner (VP).
Because the official approval process took three years. Originally, the state’s regional planning department had given several reasons for refusing to approve the amendment to the Ohlsdorf zoning plan, said Severin Mayr, Member of the Green Party. Achleitner had to explain “how it could then be rededicated”.
From the office of the regional council it was said yesterday that there had been “no instructions” and that the reallocation had been carried out “properly”. The new owner was also ordered to reforest one and a half times the cleared area “in the vicinity”.
“Political influence?”
Furthermore, the Greens want to know clarified “whether there has been political influence on decision-makers”. “Especially in times when investigative proceedings against ÖVP party donors are ongoing, we need full clarification. It must finally stop that economic interests in Upper Austria are put before environmental and climate protection interests,” said Environment Councilor Stefan Kaineder of the Greens. It is known that the former landowner is an “ÖVP major donor”. The fact that the clearing is combined with reforestation does not make things any better, said Kaineder. “This means that an even larger area of arable land is being lost.”
As the OÖN reported exclusively, an official expert from the Gmunden district authority had pointed out the great ecological importance of the affected forest in a critical statement. However, the municipality had a counter-opinion drawn up, which viewed the clearing much less critically. According to Asamer, this refuted the official report.
The entrepreneur defends the new building site: it will create up to 600 new jobs. In addition, the ex-owners of the forest areas have invested their sales proceeds in a hotel wing and in affordable apartments for young families in Ohlsdorf. Mayor Ines Mirlacher (SP) said that the BH had approved the clearing after a legal review. Jobs are important for Ohlsdorf.
Source: Nachrichten
