The first cruise ship of the season is scheduled to tie up in Wrangell on Thursday, and borough crews have been working to get new restrooms ready for visitors — and locals — who need another option while walking around downtown.
The borough has installed two portable units just off Front Street, next to the 56° North shop, near the intersection with Campbell Drive.
These are not your routine porta-potties with holding tanks; they are portable units set in place and hooked up to municipal sewage and water lines — sinks included.
One of the facilities is a single, large enough for people with disabilities to access the restroom. The other unit is a double.
The portables are used, but in excellent condition, said Kate Thomas, director of the borough's Economic Development Department. Wrangell got them at a good price, she said, about $15,000 for the pair. Adding in site preparation, sewage and water line installation, a power pole, plus eventual fencing, benches and flower planters, the total cost will come to about $60,000, she said.
That’s about half of what borough officials had estimated last fall.
The new restrooms will provide another downtown option to the borough’s permanent public restrooms behind the Elks Lodge and the facilities at the Nolan Center.
Other Southeast communities have added similar temporary restroom facilities in their downtown areas to accommodate the growing number of summer tourists.
The Public Works Department handled the installation, with Municipal Light and Power, the Capital Facilities Department and Port and Harbors Department helping, too. Parks and Recreation is responsible for custodial and maintenance services, Thomas said. “It’s been a team-building activity,” she said last week.
There was an old utility line stub nearby the site, explained Tom Wetor, Public Works director. That existing connection point reduced the length of new underground pipe needed to about 25 feet, he said.
The borough is subleasing a small area for the restrooms from Samson Tug and Barge, which holds a lease on the property, Thomas said.
The fence, built of recycled plastic for low maintenance, will shield the restrooms from the freight storage area.
The restrooms will be open 24 hours a day, the same as facilities in borough parks, and likely will be pulled out late September and put into winter storage, Thomas said.
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