Building downtown bathrooms

City of Moscow to build public restrooms in Friendship Square

The City of Moscow has begun the process to construct public restrooms between Jackson Street and Friendship Square in downtown Moscow.

The project is in the design stage, said Dwight Curtis, director of the city’s Parks and Recreation. The city contracted Design West Architects in Pullman to design the project and to estimate costs. According to Curtis, the current estimate is around $143,000.

“We are just in the infancy stage,” Curtis said. “They are only now starting to design it.”

The goal is to have the restrooms completed in 2017, Curtis said, but this could change based on city council action.

Curtis said the restrooms would have two toilets in each side of the building — the men’s side would have a stall and a urinal and the women’s side would have two stalls.     

There is a definite need for these restrooms in downtown Moscow, City Councilman Walter Steed said. A lot of people come to Moscow for the Farmer’s Market, he said, and currently the only restrooms available are at the Moscow Police Department or in private businesses.

“St. Andrews has been amazingly gracious to open up their first floor restrooms to the Farmer’s Market,” Steed said.

However, this is an inconvenience for St. Andrews, Steed said. They have to hire someone to clean the restroom and maintain the area after the market closes. Other businesses are not set up to have public restrooms, Steed said, and they can’t afford to have someone clean it or they are using part of it for storage.

A committee of city officials, business leaders and members of the community met to make a plan for the new restrooms and proposed it to the city council, Curtis said. The committee presented its plan to the council in November.

Part of the reason behind the estimated cost is the material that is going to be used on construction, Curtis said. The plan is to use red brick on the outside of the structure to match the aesthetics of downtown Moscow.

“There has been an effort to keep the character of downtown Moscow the way it is,” Steed said. “The original brick work is what people are liking.”

It was a challenge to find a location to build the restrooms, Curtis said.

“There is a city down there,” Curtis said. “There is not a lot of opportunity to build something new.”

The brick would also be more durable and able to withstand public use, Curtis said, which is why the committee decided to use it.

Another issue the committee ran into during the planning stage was the lack of water lines in the alley where the restrooms are going to be built, Curtis said. The closest water line is on Jackson Street, about 150 feet away.

“That is a long way to run water,” Curtis said. “It is one of those things you run into with already developed areas.”

Fortunately, Curtis said building the structure near Friendship Square can still be done.

“There is a lot of traffic in downtown,” Curtis said. “Friendship Square is kind of the hub in downtown. It is where everyone is.”

The city council approved the preliminary design of the project, Steed said, although the contractors are expected to give the council a better price estimate before it identifies funds.

Steed is confident the restrooms will eventually be built.

“The council is of like mind that we want to do this,” Steed said. “The challenge is challenging staff to do it.”

Graham Perednia can be reached at [email protected]

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