City officials discussed installing a public restroom downtown during the Sept. 17 City Commission work session.
Commissioner Shannon Wilson asked to have the conversation after hearing concerns about restrooms downtown and the unhoused population.
She said she wants the city to find a way to economically do something like installing a Portland Loo as the Billings Business Improvement District did in their downtown.
Wilson said that she went to downtown Billings to check out their Loo and people there said the downtown was thinking of adding more.
Missoula installed a Loo in late 2016.
She said the Downtown Development Partnership, a collaborative of downtown Great Falls groups, had concerns about the location she was eying, the city parking lot on the corner of 1st Avenue North and 6th Street.
Wilson said she wanted the city to consider using tax increment financing funds for the project, which she considered reasonable compared to other projects they’d funded with TIF dollars.
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Tax increment financing districts are designated areas of the city where the base taxes on properties go into the general fund, but the tax revenue generated by improvements to properties in the district go into a fund that is used to fund public improvements within the district with the idea of spurring development.
When a district expires, those funds go back into the general fund. If the district wasn’t in place, those funds would be in the general fund for use within the normal city budgeting process.
TIF districts are regulated by state law and commissioners developed its own set of criteria for reviewing TIF requests.
The city has an application and review process for all TIF requests.
A downtown public restroom would be an “important part of infrastructure that serves the whole public,” she said.
City Manager Greg Doyon said that he had staff look at it and provided a memo to commissioners summarizing what they saw as challenges.
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In their memo, city staff wrote, “the financial burdens of a public city restroom encompass significant initial investment and ongoing operational costs. Municipalities must consider these expenses when planning public restroom facilities, balancing the need for public amenities with budgetary constraints and other community priorities.”
Staff wrote in their memo that they reviewed a quote they’d received and costs from other cities that had installed a Portland Loo and anticipated an installation cost of $200,000 to $500,000, including the unit, delivery, installation and association infrastructure. Staff said waterline installation is about $100,000 per city block.
Staff estimated ongoing maintenance costs of $10,000 to $20,000 that would not be eligible for TIF or federal Community Development Block Grant funds.
The mostly likely source of funds for the project would be TIF or federal Community Development Block Grant funds, according to staff, but both of those programs have restrictions and given the estimated project cost, would likely use a large chunk of those funds.
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“Spending these funds would likely not solve the issues at hand, but it might mitigate or move the problem. More likely, however, is that it will create all new issues the city will have to mitigate. Staff believes these funds could be
better spent with/by our community organization partners, who could leverage those funds to do much more to help the community with sustainable solutions,” staff wrote in their memo.
Tom Hazen, the city’s grants manager, said that the proposed downtown location would not be eligible for CDBG funds.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development determines eligible uses of CDBG funds and public facilities, such as public restrooms, are an eligible activity. HUD considers benefitting low to moderate income populations an objective of the program and to meet that, a project must benefit LMI persons by providing employment, housing, serving a limited clientele (typically individuals that meet the Census’ definition of “severely disabled”), or projects that provide a benefit to a low to moderate income area.
For a public facility project that benefits an area, CDBG requires that it’s in an area where 51 percent or more of the residents are low to moderate income and the area is primarily residential, Hazen said, and HUD determines the geographical boundaries of those areas.
For downtown, HUD set the boundary for the area from Park Drive to 10th Street and from 2nd Avenue North to 1st Avenue South, which lines up with with the downtown commercial area, and includes the proposed location for the Portland Loo, he said.
The area meets HUD’s income population requirement, but because the area is entirely zoned commercial, it’s not eligible for CDBG funds for the project, Hazen told The Electric.
Mayor Cory Reeves said he understood Wilson’s intent, but has heard that other cities are having challenges with similar facilities and “we’re penny pinching here,” so he didn’t like that such a project would eat up TIF or CDBG funds.
Wilson said she thought there was enough money in the downtown TIF district fund and that commissioners had already spent TIF funds on less important infrastructure.
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Staff said the floor drain could freeze in the winter, leading to ice build up inside the facility, making it unusable and increasing staff workload.
Staff wrote in their memo that other cities had reported vandalism in their Loo units, but did not specify which cities.
City staff talked to officials in Billings and researched other cities with Portland Loos, according to their memo, and found that the units provide a venue for unwanted activity, requiring police response.
If the Loo is installed on city property, police officers can’t remove people if a crime is not being committed, according to the staff memo.
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“Loitering will most likely become an issue, but unless criminal problems arise, the PD cannot intervene, thus giving the impression that they ‘are not doing anything,’ Either problem will likely require the police department to become ‘de facto’ security guards for the Loo, tying up important resources and further burdening police staff,” according to the staff memo.
Staff wrote their could be other options, but “overall, city staff agreed that it would be extremely challenging to find a public restroom solution that effectively caters to downtown shoppers/visitors and those who rely on the restroom as their primary means of meeting their needs.”
Reeves said local downtown business owners called him to say they were staunchly opposed to installing a public restroom downtown.
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Commissioner Joe McKenney said he was undecided and wondered if it was addressing the root cause. He said he didn’t think it was a bad idea but wasn’t ready to take action.
He said there were already available restrooms downtown at retail shops, restaurants and convenience stores.
McKenney said he went to talk to employees at convenience stores and was told they let most people use their restrooms unless they’re already been trespassed.
“There’s restrooms available,” he said.
Those who already cause problems and can’t use existing restrooms would likely do the same thing in the Portland Loo, so “I don’t know what we’re solving,” McKenney said.
Commissioner Rick Tryon asked Wilson what prompted her to consider the Portland Loo.
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She said that she’d heard from people in veterans court and the county attorney’s office who’d seen people defecating on downtown sidewalks, in alleys and that businesses complain about it.
Tryon asked if there was a public restroom in Gibson Park.
Staff said there is one in the park that closes at dusk.
Tryon said he was undecided but leaning against it since he heard similar concerns from downtown business owners and citizens.
He said the location of any public restroom could affect some more than others and “there are issues” with vandalism and crime, lending itself to drug use.
Tryon said they could consider installing it somewhere else, such as the south end of Gibson Park.
Wilson said she wasn’t anchored to the location, but felt it was important to get a restroom facility downtown somewhere.
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Wilson said it would be cheaper to fund a Portland Loo than the seats in the Mansfield Theater, which commissioners already funded.
Tryon said he didn’t consider whether it was cheaper than the theater seats and was willing to hear more, but wanted to know where the money would come from and if it was needed for something else.
Wilson asked what was more important than addressing feces in the alleys and doorways of businesses.
Reeves said he wanted to hear from downtown and whether grants were available for the project.
