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Council directs staff to seek RCO guidance as it weighs Portland Loo vs. CXT restroom for Ben Root Skate Park
Summary
Councilmembers debated replacing a restroom at Ben Root Skate Park with either a CXT-style unit or Portland Loo. Staff was directed to return with cost estimates, RCO conversion guidance and local usage/crime data before final design; council also authorized continuing parking-lot design work in parallel.
Anacortes City Council on May 5 discussed design options for the Ben Root Skate Park restroom and associated parking lot and directed staff to seek guidance from the Recreation and Conservation Office (RCO) on whether a Portland Loo-style unit could be substituted for the existing CXT-style restroom under the city’s grant conversion requirements.
Parks project lead Bob Vokes presented the design-phase recommendation and said the city is "back to having to build our own parking lot" after a potential partner location fell through. Vokes described the existing plan to replace a four-stall concrete restroom with a self-contained CXT (depot) unit and a parking layout the parks department previously prepared.
Councilmembers raised alternatives, chief among them the Portland Loo — a stainless-steel, single-occupant unisex unit — and noted trade-offs in cost, privacy, maintenance and safety. Councilmember Walters said the Portland Loo "is intended to avoid most of those problems, mitigate the others," citing potential advantages for cleanliness and public safety; other members questioned the evidence base and privacy and accessibility for families with small children.
Financial constraints and grant conditions were central to the discussion. Speakers said the project has an associated RCO grant; Vokes and other staff reported the city has $1,000,000 from MJB for restroom relocation and that council designated $700,000 for this project while $300,000 went to the general fund. Staff cited an initial engineering estimate of about $640,000 for the overall project; Vokes said a single Portland Loo can cost roughly $100,000–$175,000 depending on configuration, making multiple Portland Loos substantially more expensive than a four-stall CXT unit. Vokes also described the RCO conversion process as lengthy and requiring director approval and a cultural-resources survey in coordination with the Samish tribe.
Council agreed on a two-track approach: proceed with parking-lot design while staff formally requests RCO guidance on whether a Portland Loo (and if so, two, three or four units) could substitute for the grant-funded restroom without jeopardizing the conversion. Council asked staff to return with: cost comparisons (including winterization, hot water and hand-wash options), RCO's response on allowable substitutions and any required public comment or processing timeline, and local data on restroom-related incidents or calls for service. Vokes said the RCO conversion historically took about a year and noted the city is not in control of RCO’s internal timeline.
No contract award or final design decision was made at the meeting. Councilmembers said they prefer more information before proceeding and emphasized the project’s importance for skate park users and trail visitors; Councilmember Cleland McGrath asked staff to seek an estimate for two Portland Loos as a starting point.
