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DDA board weighs in on downtown restroom location

A pedestrain walks through the city and county owned parking lot located at Seventh Street and Colorado Avenue where the Downtown Development Authority has recommended the new restrooms be constructed near the street corner for downtown shoppers and diners.
Chelsea Self / Post Independent

Glenwood Springs’ Downtown Development Authority has submitted its unanimous recommendation to City Council as to where it believes permanent public restrooms belong in downtown Glenwood Springs.

The verdict: “The Board recommends that new restrooms be constructed in the city parking lot at the southeast corner of Seventh Street and Colorado Avenue,” DDA board Chairman Steve Carver stated in correspondence between the DDA and council.

The board suggested that the restrooms be built on the city-owned portion of the lot near the street corner, facing Seventh Street. Both the city and Garfield County own portions of the lot.



Glenwood’s former public restrooms were removed during the new Grand Avenue Bridge construction that concluded earlier this year. Since then, the debate as to where to put new restrooms, or whether any should be built at all, has taken on a life of its own. Most of those involved in that discussion, however, agree that the portable toilets currently scattered throughout the downtown area have absolutely no place in Glenwood Springs.

Other input has come from the city’s Tourism Promotion Board, which recommended Centennial Park as its first choice for the new restroom facilities. The Glenwood Parks and Recreation Commission unanimously favored a location along Seventh Street or the nearby vacant alley lot in the 700 block of Grand that’s owned by the DDA.



And, the Glenwood Springs Police Department offered that, “Seventh Street as close to under the bridge as possible,” would serve as the best location.

The DDA’s Carver added in his letter to City Council, “Upon further consideration of the city parking lot at the southeast corner of Seventh Street and Colorado Avenue, the [DDA] board considered the opportunity to locate restrooms adjacent to existing utilities, use city owned land, take advantage of scheduled work at the corner of Seventh Street and Colorado, and create a public amenity that will have high visibility, easy wayfinding and will not block views of the river from existing businesses or pedestrians.”

Although council will get the final vote, after tasking the DDA to find an appropriate place for public restrooms south of the Colorado River as the city searches for an ideal area on the north side, the DDA’s recommendation will undoubtedly carry a lot of weight.

The information is to be presented to City Council at its regular meeting tonight beginning at 6 p.m. at City Hall

mabennett@postindependent.com


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