Actually the result was clear. 627 citizens had signed up for the decision on 3. June against a solar park, 394 were in favor of it. This corresponds to a majority of 60.72 percent. But even a month after the vote, the village does not come to rest. Anonymous notes were in the mailbox, and even on facebook every now and then a new comment goes online.
Mayor dieter muth (free burghers) is not happy about it. "The general public decided. The result was clear. That should be accepted", says the village chief. He adds: "it would be good if there was peace in the community again. This is very important." but the small town is still far away from that at the moment.
Unknown persons had distributed notes with comments of the solar park opponents from the internet shortly after the referendum. "We […] wanted to note that the notes that currently land in the mailboxes at night are not distributed by us," says the village head, werner milotta, spokesman of the solar park opponents, wrote to the editorial office. In the meantime, the initiative has sought legal assistance. "There is a complaint against a member of the group of opponents of the solar park", milotta explains on the phone.
The matter with the dog kennel
michael reub, who had made several public appearances as a member of the group of solar park supporters, refuses to comment on the most recent petition campaign: "i didn't want to be associated with it." but another matter is important to him: in the week after the referendum, the police checked a dog owner in the village on the basis of a tip-off from the veterinary office in bad kissingen. The family had spoken out against the solar park and the rumor quickly spread that the defeated supporters were responsible for it. "This has nothing to do with the solar park story", michael reub clarifies.
The dog owner concerned reacts in a relaxed manner. "I am quite chilled in the matter. Maybe the kennel is actually too small", says marcus zeier. The family is in the process of reviewing the matter. As far as the matter in hand is concerned – and this is certainly something that speaks to many people in unterleichtersbach – zeier says: "then it's good, isn't it??"
Considerable uncertainty
the conflict had been caused in advance by the discussion about the so-called "solar egg". The initiators of the decision had marked the area in question with a kringle and submitted the card together with the text to the community for a vote. The opponents of the project contended that a much larger area than originally mentioned – namely 78 hectares – could be developed as a solar park. This had caused considerable uncertainty among the burghers – although the company energiebauern gmbh had repeatedly assured that they would only build on a flat area of 7.2 hectares.