Residents oppose planned family pool in Vienna’s Stammersdorf

Plans for a new family swimming pool in Stammersdorf, a Vienna neighbourhood, have prompted opposition from local residents, ORF reports. They are calling for alternative locations to be examined and for the neighbourhood to be involved in the decision-making process.

The Stammersdorf children’s outdoor pool on Luckenschwemmgasse in Vienna’s 21st district is considered outdated by the district administration, which says renovation would no longer be financially viable. The site is instead intended to support an expansion of the kindergarten there.

The existing family pool will not close until the new facility is completed. The replacement is planned nearby on a 3,500-square-metre plot at Edi-Finger-Straße 8. It is to include a non-swimmer pool, a teaching pool, a water playground and a children’s playground.

Construction was originally scheduled to begin in 2027 but has now been postponed until 2028. The pool is expected to open in summer 2029. Costs are estimated at 5.8 million euros and will be financed entirely by district funds. Vienna’s municipal baths authority, MA 44, will operate the facility.

Some residents say the plan was drawn up without consulting the neighbourhood. Several private properties border the green space, and residents fear increased visitor numbers will bring more noise, reduce privacy and create disruption during construction.

They are also concerned about traffic. Edi-Finger-Straße is a dead-end street and parking is already limited. Residents have distributed leaflets opposing the project.

Floridsdorf district chief Georg Papai of the Social Democratic Party invited residents to an information event on Monday. Papai and Rainer Hauswirth, the new head of MA 44, planned to attend wearing bathrobes.

Papai rejected the residents’ concerns, saying: “A children’s and family pool is on a different scale from a traditional outdoor pool. The opening hours and noise levels are much more limited.”

The conservative Austrian People’s Party and the Freedom Party criticised the project, saying the existing pool on Luckenschwemmgasse is currently underused and that affordable housing should take priority over an additional family pool.

The Social Democratic Party responded: “Floridsdorf is a water district. Children here simply have to learn to swim.”