Seal Beach District One Councilman/Mayor Joe Kalmick recently told the Seal Beach Chamber that the restrooms under the pier are scheduled to be completely renovated.
The process is likely to take time: first the renovation project has to be designed, then bid. It is not yet known if the California Coastal Commission will require a development permit for the project. Then actual construction has to be scheduled and completed before the summer season. Portable toilets will have to be brought to the beach while the construction work takes place. That is in the future.
In a Sept. 12, phone interview, Kalmick said the city can’t build larger restrooms.
(As previously reported, a Sun reporter walked under the pier. It appeared to the naked eye that expanding the existing footprint of the restrooms would require the relocation of utilities and a complete reconfiguration of the at least a large part of the pier. Seal Beach officials presently plan to renovate the pier restrooms within their existing fingerprint.)
Kalmick said that when you have city or county pier restrooms on a busy weekend, it is impossible to keep up with the demand.
Kalmick pointed out that the city had hired a service and the city does what it can to monitor the service.
Kalmick said it is not possible to monitor minute by minute or hour by hour the level of service.
Kalmick said the restroom can be cleaned and someone can come in 5 minutes later and make a mess.
Golden Touch Cleaning Services, Inc. does more than clean the pier restrooms. Per the contract, Golden Touch also cleans the Marina Community Center, the North Seal Beach Community Center, the Mary Wilson Library facilities, police headquarters, City Hall, the City Yard, the police substation, Lifeguard headquarters, the McGaugh restrooms and pool deck, Zoeter Field restrooms, Fire Station 48, and the beach restrooms on First Street.
Golden Touch’s contract with the city requires the pier restrooms to be cleaned seven days a week up to Sept. 16. As of this Friday, Sept. 17, the service will clean the pier restrooms on Saturdays and Sundays.
A Sun staffer visited the pier men’s room during on Saturday afternoon, Sept. 11 and Sunday morning, Sept. 12. Remember, that was the weekend of the annual Arts and Crafts Faire. Turn out appeared to be large on both days.
No graffiti was in sight in any of the stalls on either Saturday or Sunday. Some litter appeared on the floor of the large stall during the Saturday visit. Rusted bolts could be seen on all three doors.
A knob was missing from the rusted bolt on the largest men’s stall. The reporter was briefly trapped inside and used his pen to move the bolt back so the door could be opened.
The bolt was missing from the door of the stall nearest the urinals. At the time, the door was not well aligned and could not be closed.
The litter was gone from the large men’s room on Sunday. Water appeared on the floor of the stall nearest the urinals.
The female Sun staffer who visited the women’s restroom Sunday, Sept. 12, had a different perspective.
At 2:32 p.m., Sept. 12, the female staff member reported that there were too many woman present to take pictures, but that the bathroom itself was pretty clean.
When the female staff member returned at about 4 p.m., there evidence of litter in more than one location.
