The need for more restroom facilities in downtown Ketchikan has been a regular talking point at city council and borough assembly meetings for at least six years.
In 2020, the Ketchikan City Council agreed to enter into an agreement with an architectural firm to design public restrooms on Stedman Street near Thomas Basin. But the city council was concerned about the high building costs for that project, and the ball was eventually dropped.
Downtown restroom facilities were brought up again by Creek Street business owner Hamilton Gelhar during a public comment period at a November city council meeting.
“People are asking us all the time ‘Where to get crab?’ and ‘Where do I go for the bathroom?’” Gelhar said.
There are currently six public restroom facilities in the downtown area, four of which are only open in the summer months. The closest public restrooms to Creek Street are inside the Tongass Historical Museum and across the street from the Salvation Army thrift store.
So, the city’s public works department recently drafted up four new potential restroom facility locations in the Creek Street area. That’s in addition to the suggested site in front of the Southeast Alaska Discovery Center.
Ketchikan’s Joint Cooperative Relations Committee, which is comprised of city council and borough assembly members, reviewed the suggested locations last month and agreed to explore the costs of building two of these sites. Those are near Dolly’s House on Creek Street and between New York Cafe and Ketchikan Dry Goods on Stedman Street.
But some community members at the Jan. 6 city council meeting raised concern about the restrooms’ location and size. Resident Stephen Reeves thinks the facilities could be difficult to manage or reduce parking spaces downtown.
“No one has talked to effective property owners, the groups that represent places like Creek Street,” Reeves said. “We need to slow down a little bit and get their opinions.”
The city council approved at that meeting developing cost estimates for both of the proposed restroom locations.
The borough assembly suggested at its meeting on Jan. 12 to develop an agreement with the city for the purpose of solving the restroom problem in the Creek Street area. The assembly also approved a $500,000 placeholder for next fiscal year’s borough budget to help solve the restroom problem. Borough Vice Mayor Jaimie Palmer said the specifics of how that money will be used have not yet been discussed.
Assemblymember Sharli Arntzen said public restroom construction on Creek Street was a regular talking point when she served on the borough’s planning commission. She said it’s time for the city and the borough to work together on a solution.
“This is a continual issue, and the conversation about ‘Oh, it’s going to be two, it’s going to be three years before we get a bathroom,’ I think is short-sided,” Arntzen said.
Construction of the restrooms would be funded by the borough through the Cruise Passenger Vessel Excise Tax. That’s a tax on cruise ship passengers imposed by the state and distributed to municipalities.
Ketchikan’s Joint Cooperative Relations Committee will meet on Jan. 30 to further discuss borough funding for public restrooms on Creek Street. They’ll meet again on Feb. 27 to discuss cost estimates for the two proposed restrooms.
Hunter Morrison is a Report for America corps member for KRBD. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep him writing stories like this one. Please consider making a tax-deductible contribution.
