Road no, school maybe, bicycles – that’s a must and dogs: please no. The expert commissioned in March 2022 has presented his species protection report for the Lötschberg triangle. There, an initiative by neighbors a natural BMX course, a dog run area and a community garden set up with raised beds. For more than a year, the group has been waiting to be able to use the approximately 17,000 square meter brownfield site between Lötschbergstrasse and Weißenhöher Strasse in Biesdorf.
From 2026, machines and building materials for the road construction of the tangential connection east (TVO) are to be parked on the area, which belongs to the municipal Berlin Immobilienmanagement GmbH (BIM). Then a school is planned.
But now it looks as if the report is slowing down all plans. Basically, after several visits to the property, the expert would prefer the area to remain fallow where flora and fauna have spread.
Protected animals such as sand lizards and bats live here
The expert reports on a deer, a fox den and does not rule out that stone martens and weasels also live on the property. Various rodents could also be at home in the area. He found three bat species “as food guests” on the property that were on the red list. He could not find out whether they also have their quarters there.
He also observed two females and two young of the protected sand lizard, the most common species of lizard in Berlin, which has already slowed down several construction projects in Berlin. They were most recently resettled for a housing project in Lichterfelde-Süd. The expert assumes a high occurrence on the fallow land. Garden waste stored on the property formed “excellent sunbathing and hiding places” for the animals. The expert observed two females and two young animals in the Lötschberg triangle and therefore assumes that the occurrence is much higher. Garden waste stored on the property formed “excellent sunbathing and hiding places” for the animals.
The planned road TVO would be a serious loss.
Species protection report on the Lötschberg triangle
His conclusion: “The planned street TVO would be construction-, system- and operational-related, especially in climate change, a large spatial-ecological serious damage.” He also sees a school building critically. He considers a natural garden to be more suitable than a community garden, without going into detail as to why the two should be mutually exclusive.
From the expert’s point of view, a “compensation under species protection law” could be necessary for the BMX course. He makes no recommendation for the dog exercise area, but writes: “Here only one species would be in focus: the dog or dogs. All other species would be disturbed to a greater or lesser extent and some would disappear.”
is this a family Does she live there? Or did they just go play there?
Martina Harder
Things are now looking bad for the Lötschberg initiative. At a meeting with the district office, a BIM representative said he could not sign a preliminary contract under the circumstances. However, the evaluation by the environmental agency is still pending.
Martina Harder and Denise Melzer, whose sons Nils and Niklas are planning the BMX course, doubt the validity of the report. “There’s a lot of potential and dignity in it,” says Harder to the Tagesspiegel. The expert mentions finds of animals, but not where exactly he observed them and whether the “one or two birds” lived there permanently or just “dropped in”. And the sand lizards: “Is that a family? Does she live there? Or did they just go play there?”
“The boys are very disappointed,” says Melzer on the phone. “A year and a half was wasted. My son will graduate from high school this summer and then start his apprenticeship. He doesn’t know if he’ll still be able to take care of the dirt trail.”
The BIM representative suggested two alternative locations. One is on Elsterwerdaer Platz next to a frozen food supermarket. A second one on Köpenicker/Weißenhöher Straße is now to be examined. However, both are only a fraction of the size of the Lötschberg triangle. “That’s clearly not enough,” says Melzer. City Councilor Witt, on the other hand, thinks: better than nothing and advises taking the initiative.
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