8/6/2019 Frankische Landeszeitung--Premiere in der Sioux Street
auf dem Urlas
3/3
Courtesy translation/summary by USAG Ansbach PAO, Bianca
Sowders
Frnkische Landeszeitung, June 15, 2011
First US house in new housing area turned over Construction
phase with 106 buildings complete
Premiere on Sioux Street on UrlasUS Army invests about 38.5
million euros Secure connection for traffic still unsolved
Ansbach The first house on Sioux Street was occupied yesterday.
This completed the firstconstruction phase with a total of 106
houses.
During an opening ceremony with many representatives from
administration and local politics, the
district commander of the US Army engineers, COL Trey Jordan,
handed COL Hickey, the
garrison commander, the first symbolic key. Afterwards the
ribbon was cut by Hickey and thefamily of SPC Kody Hansen, who will
be the first to move into one of the new houses.
Hickey, a tank driver on Urlas 25 years ago, was excited about
the positive development of thearea. He pointed out that the Army
was investing a lot to increase the quality of life for the
troops,
and also mentioned the health care and the shopping
opportunities soon available on Urlas. Army
spokesperson Cornelia Summers explained that the soldiers
generally spend about three years inthe garrison and have the
choice of borrowing furniture or bring their own. This was
organized by
Glenda Brown from the US Housing Office.
Planning for the new construction area began in 2006; there had
been basically nothing besides afew bunkers and an MP dog kennel,
explained Franz Poidinger from the state construction office
in Nrnberg. The first phase included studies about traffic and
environment, the basis for creating
compensatory areas on Urlas and Oberdachstetten [training area].
The construction itself began in2008; today there are 100 duplexes
and six single homes without basement, with a floor space of
125 to 160 square meters and a garden segment of 150 square
meters. In addition the housing area
includes multifunctional spaces, a central plaza and three play
grounds.
22 of the units are passive energy houses with extra thick
insulation and triple glass windows.
Altogether the US Army invested 38.5 million euros, the
ecological compensatory measures cost
about 1.1 million euros. The complete project will be handed
over to the US Army by the end ofJuly.
Anger in city hall about State Construction Office
Since the traffic connection of the Urlas housing to the B14 is
still unresolved and traffic will enter
and exit through a temporary construction road, the construction
committee of the city council wasa little upset about the State
Construction Offices commitment. Lord Mayor Seidel said that
there
had been a working meeting the other day, but the talks had been
quite tough. Some changesto the plans were presented, but a final
result is still out of sight. The LM also mentioned thedrawn-out
progress to the Bavarian Department of Interior, and showed her
disappointment that
the State Construction Office has not been more active.
