Airport expansion - Offenbach demands included in proceedings
Success for Offenbach: at the scoping meeting, it was argued that FAG's ideas of only wanting to investigate the effects of an additional runway were completely inadequate.
Grandke's criticism shows effect
Lord Mayor Gerhard Grandke sees the new development as a success of his constant criticism of FAG's approach: "This letter of instruction shows that it is possible to influence the planning process. For FAG, the conditions imposed by the regional president mean that all construction facilities that are to be built and operated must be included in the assessment of their impact on the environment, in the investigation."
According to Grandke, he is convinced that FAG can no longer avoid a complete processing and compilation of the overall impact of the airport. Grandke: "All this time, there has only ever been discussion about the additional pollution. The fact that the city of Offenbach currently already bears the greatest noise burden in the entire region has been completely ignored. The Prime Minister's statement that the northern runway causes the least additional nuisance to people will then have to be considered in a new context."
Location question open again
The Regional President's reference to the need to examine other possible solutions and compare alternatives in upstream procedures, such as the regional planning procedure, also fulfilled a demand made by the City of Offenbach. According to the coordinator of the municipal airport working group, Dieter Faulenbach da Costa, the RP had largely endorsed Offenbach's arguments and ideas in its list of alternative options. In this respect, the location issue is once again open.
With regard to the lawsuit filed by the City of Offenbach, which demands an extensive ban on night flights from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. as well as a clean, well-founded planning approval for the existing airport, Mayor Grandke is calmly optimistic:
"We don't want to mix the one with the other. Nevertheless, I don't think it is unlikely that the Hessian State Court will also make a statement regarding the additional burden of another runway when assessing our applications. The sole purpose of all these steps is to safeguard the airport's development options, taking into account existing and future burdens. In contrast to other local authorities, the City of Offenbach has never spoken out against the expansion of the airport. We are concerned with the prosperity of the region with the greatest possible compatibility with the living conditions of the people in this conurbation. This cannot be achieved without a fair distribution of the burdens."
March 2, 2001