Hörbranz election authority accepts waste-centre referendum bid

Hörbranz’s municipal election authority has accepted a request for a referendum on a planned regional waste collection centre, despite a legal opinion finding the proposed question inadmissible. ORF reports that the decision was passed on Monday with votes from the FPÖ and ÖVP.

The project would create a shared waste collection centre in Hörbranz for five Leiblachtal municipalities: Hörbranz, Lochau, Hohenweiler, Möggers and Eichenberg. The referendum would ask whether Hörbranz’s municipal council should reject any remaining decisions within its authority that are required for the centre at its planned location.

The FPÖ in Hörbranz submitted the request on September 23. Its supporters must now collect about 700 declarations of support within 10 weeks for the process to continue.

Mayor Andreas Kresser criticised the authority’s decision, citing an opinion by constitutional lawyer Peter Bußjäger that said the question was inadmissible on several grounds. Kresser also argued that key decisions had already taken legal effect: Hörbranz is a member of the joint municipal association, the association has bought the land, and responsibility for building and operating the centre has been transferred to it.

The five municipalities established the association, called Altstoffsammelzentrum Leiblachtal. The decision was unanimous in four municipalities and passed by 22 votes to four in Hörbranz, where the four FPÖ representatives voted against it. The association has completed the legally binding purchase of a plot of nearly 12,000 square metres near Allgäustraße and Ziegelbachstraße.

The project is expected to cost €7.88 million, with 44% funded by the state. Its organisers say it would serve about 16,000 people and provide accessible opening hours, clearly organised collection areas and charges based on waste produced.

Traffic is a central point of dispute. FPÖ representatives have described the planned centre as a central rubbish collection point for the Leiblachtal and warned of traffic chaos. Kresser said traffic concerns around the busy Allgäustraße-Ziegelbachstraße junction had been examined. A feasibility study forecasts more than 20,000 deliveries a year, or about 385 vehicles a week. A traffic count in September 2023 recorded about 48,000 vehicle passages a week on Allgäustraße in the area, the municipality said.

Containers are to be collected outside opening hours, while space for waiting vehicles and queues would remain within the centre’s grounds. The project’s priority, Kresser said, is to provide direct access from the state road so delivery traffic would not have to pass through the junction.

Kresser urged residents to seek complete and verifiable information and said they should also inform themselves about the referendum process. He described a modern waste collection centre as an organised service facility, not a rubbish dump.