"Sorry, No Public Restrooms"

by Al Parker

Ever try to find a public restroom in downtown Traverse City? Your only hope might be the Visitor Center on Grandview Parkway.

Providing more public restrooms in downtown Traverse City is a “multi-faceted, multi-fauceted” problem, says Downtown Development Association (DDA) board member Steven Constantin.

The Ticker knows that officials have debated the issue for decades, but now a DDA committee has come up with six options to offer more places for the public to seek relief.

At last week’s DDA meeting, Constantin outlined these choices:

• Do nothing. In spite of public feedback there is not sufficient support from the city to invest in public restrooms downtown.

• The city builds restrooms downtown – either in Lot O next to the Omelette Shoppe, as part of a civic square, added to the Hardy Parking Deck or participate with a developer in a future project at an undetermined location.

• The city purchases, installs and maintains four pre-constructed commercially available Automatic Toilet Systems and places them at locations in the downtown shopping area.

• The city purchases space in the planned Cherry Republic Building at Front and Cass and constructs public restrooms. It would be like owning a condo with monthly dues.

• The city leases space in the Cherry Republic Building. Monthly dues would apply.

• Offer compensation to downtown retailers who agree to list their restrooms as public facilities with specific agreements, including signage, hours, ADA compliant, etc.

“I think we’ve really hit on all of the feasible possibilities,” says DDA Director Bryan Crough, who will be researching costs involved in all of the options. He noted that the portable units cost about $200,000 each, about the same as barebones bathrooms. But they are self-cleaning and come with lower maintenance costs.

“I don’t think we can just do nothing,” says board chairman T. Michael Jackson. “As a city, we must do something.”

Several board members voiced support for the idea of compensating merchants who agree to offer a public potty to shoppers. This concept removes management and operation of the restrooms from the city. “I think we need to look at any benefit we can offer retailers,” says board member Ross Biederman. “In some countries retailers have to let the public use their restrooms or they can’t get a license to operate.”

Got an opinion or idea? Share it with us -- and the community -- by commenting below.