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City staff ask committee whether to repair Spring Street restrooms or add four accessible outdoor toilets with remaining ARPA funds
Summary
Parks director presented options for spending roughly $200,000 in remaining ARPA funds set aside for public restrooms: repair the Spring Street garage restrooms (about $150,000 to restore service, $450,000 to add ADA access) or purchase about four ADA‑accessible outdoor vault toilets for multiple locations.
The City of Portland Parks, Recreation and Facilities director asked the Health and Human Services Committee on Feb. 11 for guidance on spending approximately $200,000 in remaining ARPA funds earmarked to expand public restroom access.
Ethan Hippel, director of Parks, Recreation and Facilities, outlined two primary options: repair the Spring Street parking‑garage restrooms on the Free Street side so they are operable again (roughly $150,000), or use the funds to buy about four of the city’s outdoor ADA‑accessible fabricated vault restrooms and place them at high‑need locations across the peninsula and parks.
Hippel told the committee the Spring Street restrooms have been closed for years because of frozen pipes and plumbing issues. Restoring them to working condition without making structural changes would cost about $150,000; retrofitting the site to be fully ADA‑compliant would be a larger project, estimated at about $450,000 in total from the city’s current position. The four outdoor vault toilets are ADA‑accessible, unheated, and have low‑maintenance vaults that reduce servicing frequency; Hippel said the city cleans those units twice daily.
Committee members expressed a preference for accessible toilets and raised two practical concerns: (1) spending limited funds on a Spring Street restoration that would not make the facility ADA‑compliant risks needing a later, more costly redo; and (2) downtown site selection for outdoor units is challenging because high‑visibility locations near businesses can generate complaints, even when the restrooms are heavily used.
Assistant City Manager Dina Livner said the Spring Street retrofit is not currently on the staff CIP list and would need council approval and prioritization to be added to the FY26 CIP. The assistant city manager also confirmed that the downtown district crew (public works) would maintain the Spring Street restrooms if they were reopened; Parks crews maintain park and vault units.
Multiple committee members favored using the ARPA funds to buy several ADA‑accessible outdoor units and to pursue separate funding options (CIP, private partners or other grants) to fully fund a Spring Street ADA retrofit. Staff said the remaining ARPA dollars, if Spring Street work proceeds and leaves a leftover amount, would likely be directed to a high‑priority site such as East End Beach.
The committee requested more detail on candidate sites, operational requirements and likely costs and asked staff to return with options and firm location proposals for committee review.
