[ad_1]
Almost two years after 26 trees were illegally felled in the Kurfürstenpark in Weesen SG, the government reprimands the community for not intervening earlier. Politicians have been grappling with the case since VIEW went public with the logging of the listed trees in November 2020.
“In the present case, the municipality should have ordered a preventive stop of construction or at least a preventive cessation of tree felling in April 2019, when it became aware of the first tree felling,” says the government letter, which is available for VIEW. It is the response to a request from the policy of SP Bettina Surber (39) of the Cantonal Council.
Criminal proceedings have been started
“If creating facts by circumventing the protection of the monument is practically without consequences, you have to fear that there will be violations again and again,” Surber tells BLICK. The government now declares that it is the municipality’s job to take action when there are signs of illegal activities.
In addition to administrative measures, fines of up to 30,000 Swiss francs are possible for violations such as in Weesen SG. “In the present case, the responsible prosecutor’s office has already started preliminary inquiries and contacted the cantonal department for the conservation of monuments,” the letter continues. Beatrice Giger, media spokeswoman for the prosecution, confirmed the criminal case against VIEW.
Why didn’t the church intervene earlier?
Mayor Marcel Benz (59) tells BLICK: “After we became aware of the felling of this tree, we immediately contacted the customer and prohibited him from cutting down any more trees.” The trees were felled for the luxury Lake Shore development in Kurfürstenpark.
Investor and builder Josef Büeler always claimed that he had informed the monument protection agency in writing about the procedure before the protected trees were cut down. The protection of the monument contradicts this claim. According to the government letter, the trees were gradually cut down. And the community could not prevent this illegal logging.
The investor has to replant trees
The Weesen community only reacted when all the trees had already been cut down and the conservation authorities intervened. They forced Büeler to plant a substitute. The municipality also threatens the investor with a sanction if the replacement planting is not carried out on time.
Walter Baumann (60), who lived in the Kurfürstenpark villa until he was five years old, is happy with the latest developments in the case. But Baumann will probably never see the park from his childhood, surrounded by tall copper beech trees. “We even gave the trees names,” Baumann told BLICK in early November. “The park was completely destroyed.”
