RED HOOK — A newly revised plan for a $2.4 million bathroom planned for Louis Valentino Jr. Park would give it a smaller “feeling” and cut some costs — but its size and expense still has residents reeling.
The city’s Department of Parks and Recreation presented the new designs for a “comfort station” Thursday night after locals demanded changes to the cost, size and location of the structure.
Under the latest plan, the entire structure, which was originally planned to stand near the Coffey Street entrance, was moved to the corner of Coffey and Ferris streets in a back portion of the park that’s further away from the waterfront.
While the wall-to-wall dimensions of the bathroom stayed at 650 square feet, the new designs reduced the area occupied by its stairs and a handicap-accessible ramp into the building, said Kevin Quinn, chief of architecture and engineering for the department.
As a result of the new location, the structure could also be built closer to the ground, bringing its height to roughly 12 feet, a couple of feet shorter than originally planned.
“The feeling of it and the look of it is definitely going to be smaller,” said Quinn, at the meeting organized by Councilman Carlos Menchaca at P.S. 15, located at 71 Sullivan St.
Under the new plan, the entrance to the comfort station would be located off the sidewalk, requiring visitors to exit the park and briefly walk down Coffey Street to enter it, Quinn said.
This was done so that the bathroom would have a wheelchair accessible path, he explained.
For some residents, the restroom represented millions of dollars down the drain and should be used for more worthwhile projects in Red Hook, they said.
“We don’t need a comfort station,” said Anne Griepenburg, a resident of Red Hook. “We need a toilet.”
Other locals offered guarded support for the plan but still called for a smaller footprint, offering suggestions like making the bathrooms unisex, designing a two-story building or reducing the number of stalls.
Quinn maintained that most of the ideas were standard policy for the Parks Department and couldn’t be easily amended.
The bathroom’s interior plans remained in place, with two stalls each for men and women, a baby-changing table and a non-negotiable mechanical room in the building, he explained.
Quinn added that the new plan “should be less expensive” but he did not offer an exact figure.
“What we’ve seen tonight is clearly an improvement that hopefully can be refined further,” said John McGettrick, a neighborhood activist and community leader.
The night’s biggest cheer came for a possible plan to have luxury developer Est4te Four build a public bathroom at its 202 Coffey St. building adjacent to the park that it plans to redevelop.
McGettrick has already broached the idea with the developer, but Menchaca, who said he was not aware of the conversation, did not wish to further discuss the plan at the meeting.
If the Valentino Park project is nixed or comes in under budget, the $2.4 million — primarily funded by former Councilwoman Sara Gonzalez — will stay in Red Hook, said Menchaca, who also added some funds to the budget.
The councilman maintained that the project could still be scrapped and noted he would make a decision based on local comments next week.
A spokeswoman for the Parks Department said the agency would take “into account all of the comments we've received, and work together on the future of the project."
