Heidelberg (dpa / lsw) – A court now has to deal with the dispute between the state and city of Heidelberg over the use of the former “Fauler Pelz” prison. According to its own statements, the city filed a lawsuit against the state at the Karlsruhe Administrative Court on Thursday.
The reason for the step is a so-called deferral notice, with which the state’s building application for the conversion of the ex-prison is to be postponed for a year. According to their information, the regional council (RP) Karlsruhe had ordered the city to submit the decision in advance for approval. This violates the planning sovereignty and the right of self-government of the city, it was said in support of the lawsuit. The decision against the Ministry of Social Affairs and the state as the builder has already been issued.
Above all, municipalities can prevent or at least make it more difficult for a planned construction or renovation project to be started and facts to be created by deferring it. At the beginning of June, the Heidelberg municipal council approved the proposal by Mayor Eckart Würzner (independent) to defer. According to observers, if this delay were to occur, it would be the death knell for the interim use, which the Ministry of Social Affairs aims to limit to three years according to state information.
The Ministry of Social Affairs wants to accommodate 80 addicted offenders as quickly as possible in the correctional facility and modernize the old prison for this purpose. Social Affairs Minister Manne Lucha (Greens) had repeatedly, but unsuccessfully, promised the city council in view of the hardened fronts that they would only need the state-owned property for three years and then release an operational building for the university use favored by the city. In view of the EUR 11 million investment, however, the city does not believe that it will be used for a limited period of time.
