In the union municipality Otterbach-Otterberg, the land use plan and landscape plan had to be re-established after the merger of the two former association of municipalities Otterbach and Otterberg. A particular challenge was the different ages and the quality of the old plans. The land use plan covered an area of 123,03 km² in 12 communities with a number of districts and courtyards with around 19.000 inhabitants.

The content of the land use plan was essentially the settlement development of the individual communities. For this purpose, the need (threshold values) was first determined in intensive coordination with the authorities and updating the vacant land register (room+). Due to the demographic development, a reduction of previously shown development areas had to take place.

In the landscape plan, special attention was paid to the grassland in the biotope type mapping, and in particular to the rough meadows protected under Section 15 LNatSchG. Based on the inventory, the target concept for the desired state of nature and landscape was developed and, in close cooperation with the municipal representatives, concrete proposals for measures (in the so-called area pool) were developed. The landscape planning was always carried out in feedback with the settlement development planned in the land use plan.

In 2022, the land use plan was approved by the district administration of Kaiserslautern without any changes.

Tina Lüer, Hartmut Jopp