District Administrator Thomas Eberth wants to expand the District Office in Wrzburger Zeppelinstrae and to close off sites that the district has rented. The district building committee has already approved the initiation of planning. However, the district council would like to have a say. Ultimately, it is about 30 million euros that the district would have to invest in the domicile. According to Eberth’s plans, the former district office in Ochsenfurt could also celebrate a happy birth.
It is no secret that the district administration is bursting at the seams. Between 2009 and 2019, the number of employees in the district office rose from 408 to over 580, Eberth calculates. Responsible for this is the increase in tasks, for example by looking after asylum seekers and job seekers. “Who would have thought that we would one day operate decentralized refugee accommodation,” said Thomas Eberth in an interview with the editorial team. The job center was therefore relocated to a rented office building on Nrnberger Strasse in 2017. The lease runs for ten years. Eberth would like to save the rental expenses afterwards.
Veterinary office needs to be modernized
The veterinary office on Leistenstrasse, responsible for animal welfare and food control, also works on unfamiliar territory. The Free State has given the building to the district rent-free, but the district itself would have to pay for the urgently required modernization, particularly with regard to data networking. In addition, there is the call for more inspectors in the service of animal welfare and consumer protection.
The lack of space at the health department, which was significantly increased in terms of staff in the wake of the corona crisis, is particularly acute. In order to accommodate the new employees, other offices have been moved to a container complex in the garden. “This is not a permanent solution,” says Eberth, especially since many of the employees will probably remain with the office even after the end of the pandemic. And then there is the district’s municipal company, which is currently located at the senior center on Hubland and is also striving for a new administrative center.
“The aim is to bring everyone back to the parent company.”
Thomas Eberth, District Administrator–
In July, the district building committee therefore commissioned a concept study for an expansion, which should at the same time remedy the chronic lack of parking spaces for employees and customers of the district office. The Rottendorf architect Peter Menig has now presented the results of the study.
New office building and underground car park
Menig proposes a three-storey office building that closes off the district office area in the north to Zu-Rhein-Strasse. The new tram line 6 will later run along the street. An underground car park is to be built on three levels that will accommodate up to 336 cars. That would be a little more than the parking regulations of the city of Wrzburg prescribe, says Menig.
Thanks to intelligent management, some of the parking spaces could also be made available to residents outside of working hours. In the currently still largely sealed inner courtyard of the district administration, there would then be space for a park-like greenery, which at the same time has a beneficial effect on the microclimate.
A total of 100 offices or 174 workplaces could be accommodated in the extension, according to the architect Menig. For him, it is not just about the pure space, but also about better and functional networking of the various official areas, says District Administrator Eberth.
Use the Ochsenfurt Palatium again as an outdoor area?
At this point he brings the former field office in Ochsenfurt to the editorial staff. The so-called Palatium in the Kellereistrae also belongs to the Free State and has been left rent-free to the district. Against the background of an upcoming renovation in the millions, the district gave up the palatium and instead rented a slimmed-down outdoor area in the neighboring former district court in 2016.
“Why don’t we think about a new building on the outskirts of the city.”
Hans Fiederling, faction spokesman UWG / FW–
The real estate administration of the Free State plans to sell the former official seat of the Wrzburg Cathedral Chapter, the history of which goes back to the 13th century, to a private investor, if there is no public interested party. The city of Ochsenfurt is currently considering moving the administration to the Palatium during the planned general renovation of the town hall. District Administrator Thomas Eberth can imagine resettling departments of the District Office there, such as employees of the Veterinary Office or the Youth Welfare Office, whose main activity is in the southern district.
So was the closure of the site under Eberth’s predecessor Eberhard Nu premature? The district administrator disagrees. “Back then, the decision was correct,” he says, “against the background of the expenses that the district has since then, we have to look at it in a new light today.”
Skepticism in the committees
The main committee of the district council would like more light after it was supposed to decide at its most recent meeting on the possible financing of the expansion plans. Questions had already arisen in the building committee – for example from DP district council Matthias Henneberger, whether it would not make sense to outsource areas such as the health department to their own locations instead.
But CSU parliamentary group leader Bjrn Jungbauer does not want to rule out the possibility of re-linking the administration of the district municipal enterprise to the district office in Zeppelinstrasse. “We will not manage both together, that is, an expansion of the district office and the KU building on Hubland.” Eberth: “The aim is to bring everyone back to the parent company.”
The UWG / FW parliamentary group would take a completely different path. “Why don’t we think about a new building on the outskirts of the city,” asked parliamentary group leader Hans Fiederling. Eberth explained that this variant had been given some thought. But it was ultimately rejected again because a completely new district office with an estimated 3500 euros for the square meter and the renovation of the Main Clinic simply could not be financed.
District council should decide
Peter Juks (UWG), who is also the mayor of Ochsenfurt, finds it difficult to think about expanding the district office in times of Corona. “In Ochsenfurt we are thinking about postponing large projects.” And Karen Heuner, leader of the Bdnis90 / The Greens parliamentary group, would like to include all members of the district council in the decision. “We need that much time.”
On December 4th, the plans are to be presented to all 70 district council members. Eberth does not want to give the district councils much time before a decision is made. “We have some pressure on the boiler,” he says. After the district council, the main committee should discuss an expansion of the district office as soon as possible.
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