New trees instead

Planned water playground will not be built after all

The temporary water play area was an attraction for many young Linzers this August. It will be used again in the city in 2025.(Bild: @Flashpictures)

With the water playground, we will turn an extremely hot area into a 'Latschn', our children will have fun and we will have one less heat pole" - with this sentence, SP city leader Klaus Luger explained his idea for revitalizing Pfarrplatz to the "Krone" in May 2023. However, despite the money reserved for this, it will not be implemented. 

There were already many examples of what such a water play paradise could look like in Linz, for example in Darmstadt or Bordeaux. In France's wine metropolis in particular, the "Miroir d'eau", as the world's largest reflection pool measuring 3450 square meters is called, has long been the most photographed hotspot.

Financing was secured
This spring, the mayor at the time wanted to have the technical feasibility checked and then put out an ideas competition. Because he had already anchored the project close to his heart in the 52 million euro investment package for 2023, he assured that the funding was secured. Almost ten months later, however, this is just water under the bridge. The SPÖ has decided to invest the reserved funds in making the Südliche Landstraße more attractive.

"The fountains would have been a cool thing"
Much to the displeasure of VP party leader Michaela Sommer: "After the water bay, the water playground now has to go too, although it would have been a cool thing, certainly not only for little Linzers, but also for the gastronomy. I don't think it's right that the project is now being buried." However, Green Party city councillor Eva Schobesberger is not quite finished: "We have decided to test the temporary water play area, which was installed on Martin-Luther-Platz in the summer, on Pfarrplatz in 2025 to see how we can make Pfarrplatz more attractive in the future."