Public restrooms may hit fast track

Downtown facilities said to be needed for tourists

They may not be located exactly where local merchants want, but it appears a set of proposed public restrooms for downtown Boulder City may receive priority and be pushed ahead of other community projects.

The restrooms are envisioned along Bicentennial Park between City Hall and the Recreation Building. They may be built next fiscal year instead of in 2006-07.

The proposed project received high marks at last week's Parks and Recreation Commission meeting, as the panel addressed 16 projects on the Parks and Recreation Department's preliminary three-year capital improvements program wish list.

The project description, as written by department Director Roger Hall, proposed that $299,000 be spent in fiscal year 2006-07 for a block building architecturally compatible with City Hall.

"It would be comparable to the restrooms at Splash Park," Hall said. "It would be open 24 hours a day and would have vandal-resistant fixtures."

The idea met with overwhelming optimism from the four commission members in attendance.

"To me, this is my highest priority," member Pam Adams said. "We should move it up a year to fiscal year '05-06."

The three-year capital improvements plan will continue to be fine-tuned over the coming months with a final list going to the City Council in late January or early February, when it will be discussed before its expected approval in March.

Hall said the restrooms would be able to accommodate 80 percent to 85 percent of all the events held in Bicentennial Park.

"Right now, there are no restrooms available in the area, so this will help because the merchants association has been screaming about the need for restrooms," Hall said. "These will help a lot of small and medium-sized events. There'll still be some large events, like Art in the Park and Wurst Fest, that still will need Portapotties."

Councilman Mike Pacini has been pushing for public restrooms in the downtown area, thinking the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority might free up some funds for the construction since their location and use would be primarily tourist-related.

Former Boulder City business owner Lois Donaldson said if the city wants to be known as an art center destination and tourist town, then public restrooms for tourists are necessary.

"To have customers come into your shop, get acquainted with your merchandise or possibly buy something, then ask if there's a public restroom and you have to say, 'Sorry, no public restrooms' and then send them on their way to a service station, is embarrassing," said Donaldson, who owned the Foxhaus boutique on Hotel Plaza for 11 years before selling it in 1994. "We have a number of outdoor festivals and we provide temporary facilities for them, but when tourists stop and browse our shops throughout the year, they'll find no public restrooms. It's past time Boulder City looks into providing this accommodation."

Currently, the only restrooms open for tourists who are not customers of an establishment in the downtown area are those found at the Boulder Dam Hotel.

Consistently, signs are posted in businesses in the downtown area and along the Nevada Highway that restrooms are for customers only.

The capital improvements wish list containing the public restroom item totals $3.89 million, with the additional cost of expansion of the weight room at ABC Park still undetermined.

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