PARK RESTROOMS
When heading out with your friends and family to visit your local park, would the prospect of dealing with a lack of decent restroom facilities keep you from going? Users of city parks and playgrounds say that the lack of restrooms is a source of frustration for them. Many people say that they will avoid going to a park or will visit less often if the bathrooms are inadequate, uncomfortable, or unavailable.
It’s easy to see why many parks without restrooms now consider obtaining one to be a top priority for them. But once you decide to add a restroom to your park, you must next plan for it properly.
Here are the factors (explained in greater depth here) that you should consider when creating your restroom plan:
The Importance of Location for a Park Restroom
Your restroom should be where the people are. Before choosing a location, you should consider where people are entering, exiting, and gathering in your park.
If you have a large park with multiple areas where people congregate, you may wish to consider a few smaller restrooms instead of one large restroom. Do you have utilities (water, sewer, electrical) at the desired location? If not, you have two choices: expand the utilities or choose a utility-free alternative. Extending the utilities to your desired location can be incredibly expensive, even costing more than the building itself.
Anticipating Crime and Vandalism
Nobody knows your park (and the surrounding area) as you do. Do you feel that your park is at risk for vandalism?
We recommend studying the principles of CPTED (Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design). To summarize, criminals like dark places that are hard to see from the street where the police do their patrols.
The location of the restroom is important to prevent crime and damage to your restroom building. Try to ensure that the location for your restroom is close to the street, and well lit at night.
If you know your park is susceptible to vandalism, even when steps are taken to prevent it, we can help. By learning about your situation, we can plan with you and customize your restroom building to be resilient to everything from graffiti to fires to physical damage, all based on your needs.
