Dunedin leaders weigh timing and funding for parking garage, former city hall redo and public restrooms

City staff told the CRA they are advancing design work on the downtown parking garage and the former city hall site and are evaluating whether to add permanent public restrooms during initial construction or phase them later.

"We'll be looking to finish up with the consultant the design criteria package," Economic Development Director Bob Ironsmith said about the parking garage. Staff said the next procurement step is an RFQ for a design-build contractor and praised project manager Doug Hutchins for leading that work.

On the former city hall site, staff said they will return to the CRA and the architectural review committee in May with updated plans that include restroom facilities. Commissioners stressed they do not want the city to mobilize twice; several asked staff to pursue a single-construction phase if feasible. "Don't mobilize twice, see if you can get done in one shot," a commissioner said during discussion.

Funding and maintenance concerns Commissioners asked how restrooms would be funded and maintained. Staff said the restrooms are currently shown as a placeholder in 2026 in the general fund and that ongoing maintenance and policing were open issues to be resolved with business owners and operations staff. CRA staff noted the CRA already has heavy debt-service obligations and limited available capacity to assume more debt.

Why it matters: Permanent restrooms are a downtown amenity that merchants and residents have requested, but they carry ongoing maintenance and security costs; timing and funding decisions affect other capital projects such as the parking garage and pool improvements.

Next steps Staff will return in May with updated plans for the former city hall and provide additional cost, maintenance and phasing analysis that compares building restrooms during initial construction versus delaying the work.