Place of meeting: Gutau gets a new town square

Create new meeting places, ensure local supplies in the town and enable a new quality of stay through additional green spaces. These are the goals that Gutau is pursuing with the plans for the redesign of the town square. This project is to be implemented next year under the title “Gutaus Neue Mitte”.

“In the past few days we have had discussions with all residents and property owners in the area of ​​the market and Kefermarkterstrasse. It was very objective and solution-oriented. I really have to thank you for that,” says Gutau Mayor Josef Lindner (SP).

Now it’s a matter of creating the final plan from these details and securing financing with the state of Upper Austria. The costs are currently expected to be around 1.6 million euros. “Our goal is to be able to implement the town square design in the coming year,” says Lindner.

The community has been dealing with the question of a contemporary design of the marketplace for several years – based on a mobility concept from 2017. The cornerstones for the new marketplace were then determined in a citizen participation process. To do this, three requirements had to be taken into account: Firstly, the war memorial had to be moved to the Peace Square near the church. Secondly, the establishment of a meeting zone in the northern area of ​​the market square across Kefermarkterstrasse to Raika and thirdly, maintaining the location for the listed market fountain.

An important point in the discussions was the question of what measures are needed to ensure local supplies in the area. Lindner: “It turned out that we need 24 parking spaces for this. We will secure them so that shopping in the town center becomes more convenient and easier.”

Because around 40 percent of the existing parking spaces are occupied by long-term parkers, there will be space for this in the future at the community, at the rectory and at the school. “From there, the market square can be reached in two to three minutes on foot,” says Gutau’s mayor. There is also widespread understanding locally for this measure.