Charging Station as the Trigger

Neighborhood Dispute in the State’s Smallest Town

The parking lot in front of the inn is often busy.(Bild: Wolfgang Spitzbart)

Tensions are running high in Rutzenham, a community of 292 residents. Innovative restaurateur Alfons Baldinger is accused of building the electric vehicle charging station and storage facility too large. The town mayor is also facing criticism; a supervisory complaint has been filed against him with the Directorate of Internal Affairs and Municipal Affairs.

Restaurant owner Alfons Baldinger had already made headlines with the construction of the electric vehicle charging station. In the parking lot in front of his restaurant, “Zum Alfons,” eight electric cars can be fully charged at the same time. What makes this special is that the charging stations are located in Rutzenham, which, with 292 residents, is the smallest municipality in the state. “This gives us the highest density of electric charging stations in Upper Austria,” says the innkeeper, proud of his project.

Alfons Baldinger has been running a tavern in Rutzenham since 1998 and has repeatedly drawn attention with creative energy projects. Now, his electric charging station and energy storage system are infuriating a neighbor.(Bild: Wolfgang Spitzbart)

Baldinger’s innovative spirit has met with little enthusiasm from his neighbor, Isabella Wambacher. She accuses him of making the energy storage unit far too large. Instead of a concrete shell, she says, wooden siding was installed, and instead of a flat roof, a single-slope roof was erected. Added to this is significant noise pollution, which was deemed irrelevant during the building permit proceedings.

Neighbor Feels Her Rights Are Being Violated
Wambacher, who works as a campaign manager for the Neos, also does not hold back in her criticism of ÖVP Mayor Anton Helmberger. She filed a complaint with the Directorate for Internal Affairs and Municipal Affairs: “In my view, the municipality did not properly review a significant deviation between the project presented during the building permit hearing and the actual construction. It treated the unilateral change as permissible without conducting a new building permit hearing and without once again safeguarding my rights as a neighbor.” Restaurant owner Baldinger shakes his head: “It’s all legal. Instead of the concrete shell, I opted for a container lined with thick insulation wool. For aesthetic reasons, I added wood paneling. The single-slope roof provides space for a solar panel system.”

He tells his neighbor: “She moved to Rutzenham a few years ago into a mixed-use zone, which is a commercial area. I can’t help her with that either.” Mayor Helmberger was unavailable due to vacation. The building department states: “All structures were built in accordance with the consensus. None of them turned out to be too large. Although the design is different, it doesn’t deviate from the norm and meets all fire safety criteria.”