Restrooms in Old Trolley Barn Park?
as originally reported in March 2022 UHCA News
Community survey remains open: www.uhsd.org/restroomsurvey
Public restroom in Mission Bay, Photo by Adriana Heldiz, Voice of San Diego, 11/1/2021
Councilmember Whitburn advised UHCA leadership in early February that Mayor Gloria and his staff were proceeding with initial engineering plans and gathering community outreach regarding the installation of “comfort stations” (restrooms) in Old Trolley Barn Park.
Mr. Whitburn indicated that he isn’t taking a position on the idea yet, stating, “We need to have a clear voice from the community – people that use the park and live near the park -- to guide any decision of this magnitude.”
The engineering and outreach cost is budgeted at $500,000, and building a comfort station was estimated to cost a minimum of $1.5 million in 2019. That number has likely increased substantially since then.
UHCA News asked for input in the November 2019 issue, and published community responses in the following December/January issue (both are available at www.uhsd.org/newspaper). The overwhelming input from those comments was 3 to 1 against adding restrooms. This was not a scientific poll, but other avenues of public outreach in the past also generated a strong degree of opposition to the idea.
The UH Park, Recreation, and Open Space Advisory Group, our community’s voice to the City Park & Recreation department, unanimously rejected this idea after hearing comments from residents who attended the September 5, 2019 meeting.
UH residents attending a meeting with then-Councilmember Ward on September 14, 2019, presented a visual report of the conditions of various city park restrooms littered with needles and blood, and in sub-standard and filthy conditions, and expressed their opposition.
A common concern raised in the past was about ongoing maintenance. Poor conditions in existing restrooms were documented by The San Diego UnionTribune in May 2019 (tinyurl.com/UTrestrooms) and an internal report commissioned by the City Parks & Recreation department (tinyurl.com/PRrestrooms). Based on the numbers in the city-commissioned report, it is estimated that operation of a comfort station (cleanings, materials, repairs) could approach $100,000 annually.
“City maintenance crews work diligently to make sure comfort stations are clean and stocked each morning,” Tim Graham, a spokesman for the department, told the San Diego Union-Tribune in the May 2019 article. “Unfortunately, comfort stations are often a primary target for vandalism, graffiti and theft, which results in an unpleasant and uninviting experience for those patrons who wish to use the facility. City crews do their best, but are often having to play catch up as it relates to cleaning and restocking a vandalized comfort station.”
Old Trolley Barn Park was conceived and developed as a “neighborhood park,” smaller in scale and with fewer amenities than a “community park” like North Park Community Park. When it was originally designed, restrooms were rejected by the community and weren’t normally included as amenities in neighborhood parks. The San Diego Reader reported on the opening of Old Trolley Barn Park in the April 4 1991 edition:
The finished product, one of the first new innercity parks to be built in many years, lacks the traditional tennis courts, softball diamonds, and basketball courts. University Heights residents told the city parks department they didn’t want those; instead, they got a huge expanse of grass accented with picnic benches and concrete chess and checkers tables. Police wanted a park that didn’t attract transients or give drug dealers a place to hide, so there are no bunker-like restrooms or thick groves of trees.
As previously published, there are arguments both for and against adding a restroom, and UHCA wants to help the City gain a clear view of what UH residents think about this issue. We also want the city to explore all possible options, including public/private partnerships with neighboring businesses (including new ones currently being built).
UHCA, as part of the Community Coalition of University Heights, has developed a survey which will be open through April, and we encourage every UH resident to let UHCA and the city know where you stand on this issue: www.uhsd.org/restroomsurvey
The survey includes comment areas, and select comments may be edited and used when the results are reported back. We will also have open discussion at upcoming meetings where people can voice their thoughts, and we expect the city will host additional “listening sessions” as well.
It is important that UH residents let our elected officials know what they want in Old Trolley Barn Park. More than 31 years ago, what would have been an unwanted development project became the park that that is a jewel in UH today, and that happened thanks to community activists and neighbors who stood up and fought for what they wanted.
UHCA was born from those efforts, and we continue with that same mission of making sure that UH voices are heard by our City leadership. — Marc Johnson, President UHCA