Toilets flushed from Palm Avenue
The public bathrooms at the Palm Avenue beach access may be on the way out.
Town staff had planned to seek grant funding to replace the station but council voted 3 to 2 against replacement.
The “comfort station” was placed on a list of items to be sent to the Tourist Development Council
for Beach and Shoreline Project funding request, which included beach signage, three replacement vehicles, and the replacement of the Newton Park public bathrooms.
Palm Avenue’s bathrooms were originally installed in 2009, also with TDC funding. Of the 25 beach accesses owned by the town, the town has two accesses with bathrooms and also has public bathrooms at Lynn Hall Park.
However, three of the five town council members did not support replacing the Palm Avenue bathrooms.
Council Member Joanne Shamp said having bathrooms at the beach accesses was not clearly outlined in the town’s comprehensive plan.
“I respect your love for the comp plan, but it’s not the Bible,” said Vice Mayor Rexann Hosafros. “Just because something isn’t there doesn’t mean you can’t do it.”
Hosafros said she thought the bathroom at Palm Avenue was an important service to provide to beach-goers, especially older visitors and families with children.
“You have a limited distance to get your kid to the bathroom,” she said.
If the bathrooms are not replaced, Public Works Director Scott Baker said they need to be removed because they are well used.
“It’s on its last leg,” he said.
Both Hosafros and Council Member Anita Cereceda didn’t think that the town should remove an asset that had received no complaints against it, especially because the town could get TDC funding for the project.
Hosafros said she’d had residents contact her because people were using their front yards as toilets, so removing one of three public stations was not going to alleviate the issue. But Shamp said the neighborhoods should be protected.
“The TDC may say to paint everything purple, but our comp plan doesn’t say to paint everything purple, so I’m not going to take funds to paint anything purple,” she said. “I think it is the tip of an iceberg for our quiet neighborhoods.”
The Palm Avenue bathroom is located between the DiamondHead Resort and Estero Island Beach Club hotels, not on a residential access. Town staff had not suggested any additional bathrooms on beach accesses anywhere else on the island.
“Just because it’s not in the comp plan doesn’t mean it’s prohibited,” Cereceda said. “The council has made it abundantly clear over and over again that we would never place another comfort station on any other beach access.”
Interim Town Attorney Dawn Lehnert said it would be a “political hot potato” if the town did not replace the bathroom and then at a later time wanted to get funding to put a new one in the same location. She said if the town took it out now, with no complaints against it, a future replacement probably wouldn’t get approved for funding.
Council Member Tracey Gore’s solution was that people could walk into a hotel or restaurant and use those bathrooms, instead.