EDMONDS — Work on a long-time city goal, construction of public restrooms in the downtown shopping area, is expected to begin later this summer.
“It’s been a long-needed issue,” said City Council member Adrienne Fraley-Monillas. Money from the city budget as well as grants from community groups has allowed the project to move forward, she said.
The restrooms will be constructed near City Hall, convenient for people coming to the city for events such as the Bite of Edmonds, the annual car show and the weekly summer market.
Currently, the closest public restroom is in the city’s pocket park near the traffic holding lanes for the Edmonds-Kingston ferry.
For years, downtown businesses have become the de facto host for public restrooms.
“Our businesses have done a great job of allowing people to use the restrooms when they’re not even customers,” Fraley-Monillas said.
The $390,000 project now calls for the addition of a separate family/unisex restroom in addition to the designated stalls for women and men.
The unisex restroom was added for several reasons. There are families with young kids who still need assistance from their parents and people with disabilities who need help from a friend of family member who may not be of the same sex, Fraley-Monillas said.
“I have a son with Down syndrome,” she said. “Even though my son is 24, if he needs help, where do I go? I can’t take him into the guy’s room and he shouldn’t go into the girl’s room.”
The unisex/family restroom also may be used by transgender people who prefer to use a single restroom, she said.
Last year, the city council gave the go-ahead in the 2016 budget for spending $260,000 on the project, then estimated to cost $300,000.
Construction would have reduced parking by three or four spaces, said Patrick Doherty, director of the city’s Economic Development and Community Services.
Plans changed to develop more of a landscaped plaza area that would only take away one parking spot. Fraley-Monillas then suggested that family room/unisex bathroom be added to the plans, increasing its cost to $390,000.
Some $115,00 for the project will come from the city’s real estate excise tax, which brought in $225,000 more than predicted last year. The Edmonds Downtown Alliance and the Edmonds Rotary Noon Club also made donations.
Before construction can begin, the project needs to go through final design, permitting and then go out to bid. Pre-construction site work is expected to take four to six weeks, Doherty said. No firm date has been set, but the restrooms could open by late summer, he said.
Sharon Salyer: 425-339-3486; salyer@heraldnet.com.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
