The renovated hiking home on the Feldberg cannot open before the end of 2021 due to fire protection deficiencies. This is a serious turning point for the club.
The bad news at the Frankfurt section of the Taunusklub parent club is not ending at the moment – the vice chairman Wolfgang Lenz is currently not to be envied. It was almost three weeks ago that he was informed that the newly renovated hiking home that the club operates on the Feldberg will initially have to remain closed until the end of 2021. The observation tower is also no longer allowed to be entered. Fire protection causes problems: “A second escape route has to be created, for us it is a catastrophe,” he says.
By renting the rooms, the association earned around 15,000 euros in 2019 – besides the contributions from around 400 members, this is the only significant source of finance. Because the hiking home was extensively modernized last year and operations have to be suspended due to the corona pandemic and for the foreseeable future due to the lack of an escape route, the income is missing. “If that doesn’t change, we’ll be broke in a year,” Lenz predicts.
The 80,000 euro renovation of the hiking home was financed with own funds. Fortunately, the club didn’t have to take out a loan. Otherwise you would have been even more distressed. However, apart from an iron reserve and the corona aid of 5000 euros granted by local advisory board 3 (Nordend), the reserves have been used up. “The sum will only last a few months,” says Lenz, somewhat perplexed.
The deficiencies were discovered during a prevention show by the Schmitten fire brigade and by a fire protection expert. The deputy director of the Hessischer Rundfunk (HR), Gabriele Holzner, was surprised: “We did not expect such results from the report and are very concerned about the effects this will now have.”
The buildings on the Feldberg belong to HR. He rents them to the Frankfurt section of the Taunusklub parent club. “From now on we will only pay 50 percent of the rent,” reports Lenz. According to him, an external staircase must be installed as a second escape route. “A slide that you can whiz down from the tower’s viewing platform would be the best – that would be the attraction,” says Lenz with great humor. He knows that it is hopeless. The hikers’ home and the observation tower are under monument protection.
“At the moment we are clarifying with the authorities and the monument office what needs to be done,” says Hedda Coulon, legal advisor at HR and responsible for properties, among other things. At this point in time, no information can be given. According to initial estimates, however, the HR apparently expects expenses of 300,000 euros to remedy the deficiency. Lenz wants a quick solution, but he doesn’t like to believe in that alone.
The missing second escape route is just one of many construction sites that the Frankfurt section of the Taunusklub parent club is struggling with. The “dusty” image had to be shed, the club had to present itself and recruit new members. Many do not know that the association devotes itself to singing in addition to its main task, marking hiking trails.
–
