EVERETT — A new two-stall public restroom in the northeast corner of the Everett Municipal Building’s parking lot may be open by July 4.
Downtown Everett currently only has public restrooms in the Everett Public Library and in the municipal building, both accessible only during open hours.
Work on the bathroom installation outside the municipal building began “a few weeks ago,” city spokesperson Simone Tarver confirmed in an email. City staff are “working towards” a July open date, she added. The building at 2930 Wetmore Ave. is down the street from the police department’s North Precinct.
Meanwhile, two single-stall restrooms are set to go up near the Cope Gillette Theatre at 2730 Wetmore Ave. and the Everpark Garage at 2815 Hoyt Ave.
Romtec, an Oregon-based company that makes parks and recreation buildings, will supply these two while Nevada-based Public Restroom Company made the one by the municipal building.
The $1.5 million downtown public restroom project, funded by American Rescue Plan Act dollars and a $250,000 county grant, has been in the works for years.
As far back as 2014, a citizen task force recommended the city “explore options for expanded public restroom access to reduce negative impacts from street populations on the Everett Public Library, Transit Center and commercial core areas.”
In May 2022, the council allocated $500,000 of pandemic relief money to increasing “public restroom access in unmet needs areas.” In October of that year, it set aside another $750,000 of those funds for the project.
In March 2023, the City Council approved purchasing the Romtec bathrooms, while the council approved the Public Restroom Company unit in August.
“There is an urgent community need for public restrooms in the downtown area,” read one city document.
The bathrooms are “prefabricated,” which in this case means the manufacturers pre-assemble them. All are Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant and “vandalism resistant,” according to city documents.
In an email, Tarver wrote the long wait for the restrooms has to do with “a whole host of factors,” including “lead time on the units being fabricated, staff capacity, installer capacity, weather and more.”
Similar restrooms made by Oregon-based company The Portland Loo are already in use in Seattle, Kirkland, Shoreline and Olympia.
At the City Council meeting in March 2023, council member Ben Zarlingo said public restrooms like these “can make a real difference.” He added city staff could update the council once the restrooms are in use on “how well it’s working.”
“Because if it works better,” he said, “we can do more.”
Sophia Gates: 425-339-3035; sophia.gates@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @SophiaSGates.
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