AGENDA #2g
BUDGET WORKING PAPER
TO: W. Calvin Horton, Town Manager
FROM: Kathryn Spatz, Director of Parks and Recreation
SUBJECT: Winterizing Park Restrooms
DATE: May 19, 2003
At the Council’s May 12, 2004, meeting a Council member asked for additional information on the costs and priorities of winterizing park restroom facilities.
The lack of winterized restroom facilities in our park system is the single largest generator of complaints related to facilities received by the Parks and Recreation Department staff. Only three of our parks have winterized restrooms. These are Community Center Park, Hargraves Park, and the skate park facility at Homestead Park. All other parks have either no restrooms or restrooms that are closed from November through late April.
Cost Issues: In general we estimate that each addition and/or upgrade would cost about $70,000-$90,000, although some facilities may cost less and some may cost more. Variations in costs are mostly related to the need to extend utility lines and variations in demolition costs.
We believe that it would not be effective to try to refurbish the existing structures. The structures at Cedar Falls Park and Ephesus Park are very old and in poor condition. Although newer, the restrooms at Homestead Park and Umstead Park were not designed for winter use. Almost every aspect of these building would have to be redesigned and rebuilt including addition of HVAC systems, addition of insulation, addition of electrical service, re-plumbing, and other changes. The Umstead Park structure would require ADA modifications.
It would likely cost less and almost certainly be more effective to demolish all of the old units and replace them with standardized factory constructed restrooms. In some cases it might be possible to use the old slabs and utility lines.
Priorities: If the Council were to fund a restroom upgrade we would recommend that we renovate the facility at Homestead Park. This is one of our heaviest used parks. The dog park, play area and picnic facilities are close by and are used all winter. In addition, some overlap occurs in the athletic field use schedule and restroom shutdown.
Other restrooms that could be converted or added are listed in what we believe would be a logical priority order:
Operating Costs: Although the costs would be not appear until FY 2005-06 we believe that each upgrade would cost the Public Works Department an additional $2,900 to clean for the extra 5 months of service.