Park will be among the first three parks in the city to have bathrooms with sustainable features, which could include a roof with planted vegetation and waterless urinals. While the facilities for the two other parks, in Brooklyn and Queens, are already designed, the Parks Department has not yet sketched out plans for Washington Market Park’s restrooms. But the goal, Smith said, is to conform to standards prescribed by the U.S. Green Building Council, the group that rates the environmental friendliness of all types of construction.
Low water and energy usage are among the main goals. A “vegetated” roof would provide additional insulation and air filtration, and reduce pollution.
Of course, parents using the park today have more pressing concerns. Nelle Fortenberry, the president of the Washington Market Park’s board of directors, said a Parks Department official told her it will likely be two years before the rest room is completed. Plans can not begin until a contract is signed between the LMDC and the Parks Department. That, she was told, could take up to two months. Fortenberry said the park board is “so grateful and happy” that the restrooms are coming but disappointed and discouraged that it will take so long.
Last year, Councilman Alan Gerson pledged $650,000 for a bathroom that has been estimated to cost as much as $1.3 million. The LMDC announced earlier this year that it will provide $20 million to spruce up Lower Manhattan parks, including enough to make Washington Market Park’s restroom dreams come true.
An LMDC press release describes the structure as 900 square feet. As required by the Parks Department, it is to have separate men’s and women’s rooms that are large enough—for safety reasons—to accommodate multiple users.
Fortenberry said she worries that the comfort station will be too big for the park. “We want it to be serviceable to the community and not too small,” she said. “On the other hand, there’s not that much real estate in that park, and we have our own plans. Hopefully it will go where we have enough space for other projects.”
Three years ago, some park board members got so fed up with children peeing in the park that they posted signs threatening caregivers with a $75 fine if their charges were caught in the act. The sign urged adults to take children to the closest toilets, in Borough of Manhattan Community College.
Park police never began patrolling the park. The Parks Department said that fining the offenders was out of the question. But the park’s board never gave up hope for a solution. Now it appears they have one, but it is still years away.
“By then,” said Fortenberry, the mother of a 3- and 5-year-old, “my kids will be old enough to hold it before they get home.”
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