Sund Municipality

Sund is a former municipality in the old Hordaland county, Norway. The 99.54-square-kilometre (38.43 sq mi) municipality existed from 1838 until its dissolution in 2020. The area is now part of Øygarden Municipality in the traditional district of Midhordland in Vestland county. The administrative centre was the village of Skogsvågen on the island of Sotra. Other villages in the municipality included Klokkarvik, Telavåg, Kausland, and Hammarsland

Sund Municipality covered the southern third of the island of Sotra, west of the city of Bergen. It also included many smaller, surrounding islands. Sund Municipality was a predominantly rural municipality, with no major settlements, the largest being Hammarsland with approximately 900 inhabitants (in 2013). Due to the proximity to the city of Bergen, a large proportion of the population commuted to the city to work.

Prior to its dissolution in 2020, the 99.54-square-kilometre (38.43 sq mi) municipality was the 381st largest by area out of the 422 municipalities in Norway. Sund Municipality was the 149th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of about 7,062. The municipality's population density was 70.9 inhabitants per square kilometre (184/sq mi) and its population had increased by 19.7% over the previous 10-year period.^[5][6]

The parish of Sund was established as a formannskapsdistrikt (municipality) on 1 January 1838. It originally included many islands to the southwest of the Bergen Peninsula. On 1 January 1886, Sund Municipality was divided: the southern archipelago (population: 2,396) became the new Austevoll Municipality and the rest of the municipality (population: 2,112) remained as a smaller Sund Municipality.^[7]

On 1 January 2020, there was a large municipal merger including three neighboring municipalities. Fjell Municipality, Sund Municipality, and Øygarden Municipality were merged into a new, much larger Øygarden Municipality.^[8] Historically, this municipality was part of the old Hordaland county. On 1 January 2020, Hordaland county became a part of the newly-formed Vestland county (after Hordaland and Sogn og Fjordane counties were merged).^[9]

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Sund farm (Old Norse: Sund) since the first Sund Church was built there. The name is identical to the word sund which means "strait", "sound", or "channel".^[10]

The original coat of arms was granted on 26 April 1966 and they were in use until the new arms were approved on 23 March 1988. The blazon is "Azure, two piles in the point argent issuing from each side of the chief and a lighthouse on an island sable over three bars wavy argent". This means the arms have a blue field (background) and the charge is a black lighthouse on an island over three wavy lines. There are also two triangle-shapes emitting from the lighthouse. The triangles and wavy lines have a tincture of argent which means they are commonly colored white, but if the arms are made out of metal, then silver is used. The arms were designed to look like a lighthouse on an island in the ocean, emitting light to guide travelers.^[11]

A new coat of arms was granted on 23 March 1988 and they were in use until 1 January 2020 when the municipality was dissolved (its successor, Øygarden Municipality, adopted these arms starting on that same day). The official blazon is "Argent, a lighthouse couped azure" (Norwegian: På sølv grunn ei blå fyrlykt). The arms were designed to replace the old "unofficial" arms (since they did not meet the legal requirements for arms). They were designed to be similar to the old arms while meeting the state requirements. The arms have a field (background) has a tincture of argent which means it is commonly colored white, but if it is made out of metal, then silver is used. The charge is the top of a lighthouse. This design was chosen to symbolize the importance of the sea and the alertness of the local population. The arms were designed by Even Jarl Skoglund. The municipal flag has the same design as the coat of arms.^[11][12][13]

• Arms from 1966 to 1988
• Arms from 1988 to 2019 (these arms have also been used by Øygarden Municipality since 2020).

The Church of Norway had one parish (sokn) within Sund Municipality. It is part of the Vesthordland prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Bjørgvin.

The Sotra Bridge, opened in 1971, drastically improved travel to and from Sund and it spurred rapid population growth after ages of stagnancy. Due to the rapidly increasing traffic across the bridge and on the highways of Sotra, the Norwegian Public Roads Administration developed plans in the 2000s for a new bridge and highway between Bergen and Sotra. The plans include a new dual carriageway bridge to replace the Sotra Bridge, and new highways that lead northwards to Øygarden Municipality and southwards to Sund.^[14]

On 26 April 1942, after having discovered that two men from the Linge company were being hidden in Telavåg, the Gestapo arrived to arrest the Norwegian officers. Shots were exchanged, and two prominent German Gestapo officers, Johannes Behrens and Henry Bertram, and the Norwegian Arne Værum, were shot dead. Reichskommissar Josef Terboven ordered the Gestapo to retaliate, burning all buildings in the village, executing or sending the men to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, and imprisoning the women and children for two years. In addition, 18 Norwegian prisoners at a Norwegian internment camp were killed as a reprisal.^[15] The event has since become known as the "Telavåg tragedy", and is sometimes compared to similar World War II atrocities, such as the Lidice massacre, with higher death tolls.^[16]

Sund Municipality included the southern third of the island of Sotra, as well as the many islands that surround it. The largest of the smaller islands are Toftarøyna, Lerøyna, Bjelkarøyna, Tyssøyna, Stora Risøyna, Stora Vardøyna, Golta, and Vikso. In total, the municipality encompassed 466 islands and skerries, which gave it a total coastline of about 110 kilometres (68 mi).^[20]

The highest peak in Sund was the 284.6-metre (934 ft) tall Førdesveten (or simply Veten).^[20][1]

The fjord separating the island of Sotra from the mainland, Krossfjorden, was historically the most used sea route into the city of Bergen, and is as much as 600 metres (2,000 ft) deep in some places. The treacherous waters in the area mean there has been a continuous need for piloting services, and this tradition is kept alive by the "Viksøy Losstasjon".

On an average, the island of Sotra experiences 1,328 millimetres (52.3 in) of rainfall annually, less than the 2,250 millimetres (89 in) that the nearby city of Bergen receives. The year-round average temperature is 7.6 °C (45.7 °F), with the coldest month being February, when the average temperature reaches 2.1 °C (35.8 °F). The warmest month is August, with an average temperature of 12.8 °C (55.0 °F).^[20]

There were six urban settlements, as defined by Statistics Norway, within the border of the municipality. The largest is Hammarsland in northern Sund, with 929 inhabitants as of 2019. The others are Telavåg, Skogsvågen, Klokkarvik, Forland, and Glesnes.^[21]

While it existed, Sund Municipality was responsible for primary education (through 10th grade), outpatient health services, senior citizen services, welfare and other social services, zoning, economic development, and municipal roads and utilities. The municipality was governed by a municipal council of directly elected representatives. The mayor was indirectly elected by a vote of the municipal council.^[22] The municipality was under the jurisdiction of the Bergen District Court and the Gulating Court of Appeal.

The municipal council (Kommunestyre) of Sund Municipality was made up of 21 representatives that were elected to four year terms. The tables below show the historical composition of the council by political party.

The mayor (Nynorsk: ordførar) of Sund Municipality was the political leader of the municipality and the chairperson of the municipal council. The following people held this position:^[40][41]

• List of former municipalities of Norway