urban redevelopment
Basically, urban redevelopment means the preparation and implementation of measures to remedy urban deficiencies in a defined part of a city or municipality. Essentially, grievances in the area of living and working conditions as well as with regard to the functional weakness of the area are to be remedied.
In the past few decades, the city of Konz has redesigned prominent parts of the city center with the help of redevelopment. Here the former "old town centers" along Wiltinger Straße and opposite the Karthaus train station should be mentioned. With the relocation of the former mechanical engineering factory "Zettelmeyer" from the city center to the industrial area of Konz-Könen in the early 1980s, the city of Konz had the opportunity to develop what is now the city center.
Old town cores
The redevelopment plan initiated in 1970 to renew the town center, which according to the planning at the time was still to the right and left of Wiltinger Straße in the area of the historic town center, was the basis for defining the redevelopment areas "old town cores". In these areas, modern residential and commercial structures were created with the help of the redevelopment in addition to improved or new traffic routing. The areas affected were "Lichtsmühle", "Wiltinger Straße - Bundesbahn", "corner of Scharff-Martinstraße" and the Karthaus area "Am Bahnhof Karthaus". In these areas, the redevelopment has been completed and has since been rescinded by a resolution in the articles of incorporation. The public measures carried out in these areas at the time led to private owners investing around 2 - 3 million euros there.
In an adjoining area of this "old town core", the city of Konz - after giving up a bakery and a gas station - has designated another redevelopment area along Wiltinger Straße called "Wiltinger Straße II". In this area - in addition to improving the living and working situation - more than 30 public parking spaces in an underground car park were made available for the surrounding residential and commercial buildings. The development in this area could, among other things, because of the currently bad economic situation is not yet over. In the meantime, the planning of the residential and commercial development in the "Wiltinger Straße II" redevelopment area has been completed. With the decision of September 29, 2009, the city council declared the renovation to be over. Public funds of around EUR 1 million have flowed into the area.
downtown
As already mentioned, the focus of redevelopment since the early 1980s has been the town center area, consisting of the redevelopment areas “town centre”, “town centre, commercial part of the Zettelmeyer area/building yard” and “town center extension”. In this area, the development was blocked for a long time by the operation of the mechanical engineering company Zettelmeyer in the immediate center. Only after the mechanical engineering company had relocated to the Konz-Könen industrial park did the city have the unique opportunity to develop the inner city area in line with the importance of the city.
After the demolition work had been carried out on the former Zettelmeyer site, extensive contamination was found in a wide variety of categories, which made it necessary to carry out cleaning and replacement measures for the entire area over a number of years, so that secure structural and functional development could take place there without adverse health effects.
In addition to extensive soil cleaning, the groundwater was also cleaned for this purpose. Despite funding from state and federal funds, both measures have placed an additional burden on the municipal budget for several years.
In the meantime, the Konz market square and its surroundings have been designed into an urban center with a high quality of stay. This included not only the paving of the square with a fountain and greenery, but also the addition of storeys to the corner buildings that characterize the cityscape and the creation of associated public parking spaces, especially in the area of the former building yard (south of administration building I) and administration building II, as well as the access via the Brückenstrasse on the edge of the redevelopment area. Only after the cleaning of the contaminated area in the area of the city center and the commercial part had been completed as far as possible could these measures be tackled in the sense of a structural development.
In order to be able to implement proper processing on the basis of legal requirements and urban development framework planning, development plans were developed across the entire redevelopment area. These planning law fixations were the basis for any development in the area of the Konzer city center. In the process, particularly in the central area between Schillerstraße and Konstantinstraße, the instruments of the project and development plan were used, which were drawn up and implemented together with the investor TRIWO, Trierer Wohnungsbaugesellschaft, and which had the content of building a magnet (Lidl, Kaufland ) and to integrate it into an overall urban structure. This was to ensure that, in addition to retaining purchasing power (proven by BBE reports), the necessary public and private parking spaces were also created and that, in addition to this concentration, retail shops could also settle around an urban square ensemble, which was of great importance for the city center. This concept was systematically implemented and connected to the actual market place and the administration center by two tangential passages.
The complete restructuring of the city center naturally also made the reorganization of the moving and stationary traffic necessary in this part of the city and therefore the creation of traffic circles and connections to the public parking spaces required traffic engineering measures that contributed to the functionality of the city center. In addition, it was possible to position a new train station in the northwest of the planning area within the framework of GVFG funding, which also improved the connection to the city center with public transport.
The eastern planning area (commercial part of the Zettelmeyer site) was gradually developed. The new building measures of the German Red Cross and the fire brigade found their location there early on. After the contaminated areas had been cleaned, the former administration building of the Zettelmeyer company was converted into a public area with a library and complementary facilities (see photo). The remaining free space could be occupied for the settlement of a senior citizens' home (Haus Zur Buche) and the complex of life support for disabled people. Rounding off residential developments, especially in the north-western part of the planning area, complemented the urban structure.
The settlement of social facilities and residential buildings went hand in hand with the design of public spaces as well as the creation of public parking facilities and their connection to the local and regional road network. Due to the structural change in the city center as a result of the urban redevelopment measures, in addition to a large number of vacant lots that were closed with adapted residential buildings in the sense of urban redevelopment, existing building fabrics were also thoroughly modernized. In addition, the city has supported the urban planning objectives with a façade program specially designed for this purpose, so that a renovated urban structure can be experienced in large areas of the redevelopment area today. After the completion of the most important regulation and construction measures in the city center, large parts of the aforementioned redevelopment areas could be formally abolished. The city has currently left the areas along Granastraße from the junction with Schillerstraße to the fire station for the purpose of final clarification of the traffic and expansion in the current redevelopment area.
For the structural improvement measures carried out so far, which represent a significant functional upgrading of the renovated areas, have been around 17 million euros so far public funds used. It can be assumed that as a result of these public investments, around 30 million euros in private investments were made in the city center area alone.
Despite a noticeable improvement in the traffic situation, which has often resulted from the interaction of GVFG and urban development funding, the traffic routing in the area of today's city center, especially for through traffic in the Granastraße/Schillerstraße intersection, is still problematic.
Here it is important to achieve a future improvement in traffic management in cooperation with the state mobility agency (LBM), which is responsible for the affected state road L 138, and urban redevelopment. Since the aforementioned improvement in the traffic situation can only be achieved in the medium or long term and the main redevelopment goals in the city center have already been implemented, the city council canceled part of the three contiguous redevelopment areas in the city center on August 14, 2008 and the rest of the area on September 29, 2009. The redevelopment is thus formally completed in the city center of Konz.