Crest Lake Park Bathrooms to be Destroyed This Week

Barricades, heavy equipment and fences are in place.

It seems all that is left is to remove the blocks, doors and roof that once made up the restrooms at Crest Lake Park.

And it appears a crew is set to complete that part of the job this week.

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Birds chirped, palm fronds shook in the gentle breeze, and pet owners took their dogs for a walk around Crest Lake Park on a recent Wednesday morning.

Lisha McCauley lives across Gulf to Bay Boulevard and treks daily to the park for a run, just as she's done for the past 11 years, and also to walk her 2-year-old dachshund, Buddy.

Yes, she used the restrooms occasionally when they were opened. She also took her 2- and 4-year-old grandchildren to the playground there.

But not without bathrooms. No matter if they were dirty, at least something was there, she said.

She would like to see the park improved, but she does not think removing the bathrooms is the step to get there.

“You want to make the park nice, but (you’re) not doing anything to get it there,” McCauley said. “Need to start in the right place, not destroying the bathrooms.”

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The seven, open-air bathrooms were built for about $35,000 as a new amenity for the park around 1980, Kevin Dunbar, the director of the city’s parks department, said in an email.

Oak trees have orange barricade fences staked around them. A magnolia tree blooms behind a chain link and green silt construction fence.

Along the fence are several yellow ribbons, similar to those worn by residents who came out in support of reopening the restrooms in February. They hoped to convince the council to reopen them by March 7.

They've been closed since June 11, 2012.

Instead, city leaders decided to destroy the bathrooms within 30 days of an April 4 City Council meeting, saying it was the first step in a plan to redevelop the park. 

Officials would like to see the park transformed from a "neighborhood" to a "city" park adding interactive activities, removing its berms and adding a possible veterans memorial, which could take years and millions of dollars.

Financing for the project could come from Penny for Pinellas in 2017, officials have said. But the park plan is competing with several other city projects.

Officials would also form a stakeholder group with other community entities to be involved in the park's redevelopment as early as this summer.

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Bathroom maintenance is $35,000 a year. It includes locking, unlocking and daily cleaning. Maintaining all of Crest Lake Park is about $86,000.

The bathroom closure was intended to reduce costs and part of a city initiative to move homeless individuals into social services.

The cost to destroy them is about $9,000.

Related Coverage:

• Crest Lake Park Bathroom Demolition Vote Set for Thursday
• Crest Lake Park Bathrooms Likely to Be Destroyed
• Crest Lake Park Plans to be Unveiled in March
• Skycrest Neighbors: Open the Bathrooms, Have More Events at Crest Lake Park
• How Can Crest Lake Park Be Improved?
• What Are Your Ideas for Fun at Crest Lake Park?
• Stabbing Sparks Question of Safety at Crest Lake Park
• What Clearwater's Saying: Safety at Crest Lake Park

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