Recent Letters to the Editor argued that Seal Beach needs more public restrooms.
One city council member said the calls for public restrooms were valid, but such facilities are expensive.
There are no public restroom projects in the 2013-14 Capital Improvement Plan.
According to a recent Sun online poll, 46 percent of those polled said “No” to the question “Should there be more public restrooms in Old Town?”
However, 38 percent said “Yes” and another 15 percent said they had “No opinion.”
District Three City Councilman Gordon Shanks said the issue comes up now and then. District Three includes the Hill, the Coves, Bridgeport and Heron Pointe.
“There is a lack of restrooms at the Marina Park in Seal Beach,” wrote Kevin Fitzgerald in the March 27 issue of the Sun Newspapers.
“The community center has a sign on the door that is locked most of the time stating, ‘not a public restroom’ during most days. The park at First and Marina has ‘tennis courts,’ ‘handball courts,’ basketball courts,” lunch tables, etc. … including handicapped parking, but no restroom,” Fitzgerald wrote.
“A visible sign stating public restroom this direction and open to the public would be nice,” Fitzgerald wrote.
Paula Goetz agreed with him in the April 3 edition of the Sun.
“I’ve lived here since 1941. My only grievance about town is not having a restroom available when shopping downtown,” Goetz wrote.
“With the buses running again from Long Beach to Main and Electric Avenue, we will have more out-of-town shoppers. Let’s accommodate their restroom needs,” she wrote.
But Seth Eaker, spokesman for the Seal Beach Chamber of Commerce, said that the Chamber has not heard anything from either the membership or the community about a greater need for public restrooms.
“The Chamber has not heard from its membership or the community a greater need for public restrooms.”
Sean Crumby, director of Public Works and assistant city manager, said that the city recently remodeled public restrooms at City Hall, the pier, at the First Street complex and at the Seal Beach Tennis Center.
He said the 2013-14 Capital Improvement Plan didn’t include any public restroom projects.
Crumby said he thought there had been some discussion of the subject.
“I attended a Seal Beach Recreation meeting at the Mary Wilson Library several months ago and talked to the group about building some bathrooms on Main Street,” Goetz wrote. “For instance, on Marina Drive and Main, where the buses stop to pick up folks, there is a grassy area that would accommodate restrooms.”
Mayor Ellery Deaton, who represents District One (Old Town and Surfside Colony), said she believes the people who live near the Electric Avenue Greenbelt are not interested in public restrooms.
She said mothers who live near the Marina Drive Community Center would like those restrooms to be open during the daytime.
Deaton said the issue was maintaining them.
Councilman Shanks said the issue “has been around for awhile.”
“I think there is a valid problem at Marina and Arbor Park,” Shanks said. “And College Park East.”
But restrooms are expensive.
“They’re not only expensive to build, but somebody has to maintain them,” Shanks said.
“Those are what you call continuing problems,” he said.
He also said that restrooms need water and sewer connections. According to Shanks, people don’t take care of public restrooms.
He said that during the summer, the city hires a company to clean the pier restrooms twice a day.
“The city only has so much money,” Shanks said.
According to the June 12, 2013 Parks and Community Services Master Plan, the Richard Fisher Associates found that restrooms for both large and small city parks were a major priority for the public.
None of the possible improvements have been approved by the City Council. However, plan included cost estimates for various possible improvements to specific city parks—including improving or adding restroom facilities.
For Edison Park, for example, the cost of adding a portable and Americans with Disabilities Act compliant restroom was “to be determined.”
The plan said that adding ADA access to the beach and restrooms near Eisenhower Park would be $30,000.
For the Electric Avenue Greenbelt, the plan put the cost of a new restroom building and sheltered picnic pad at $350,000.
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