NEWPORT BEACH : Restroom Facility Is Sparking Debate

Plans to build a new fire station on Balboa Island have sparked debate between residents who want the site of the current station for a public restroom area and city officials who say the site must be sold to pay for the new facility.

In the current budget, the city set aside $1 million for the new station and hopes to sell the land where the current station sits for about $400,000. The new station is expected to cost between $800,000 and $1 million to build, and the city recently paid $600,000 for property at the new site.

“The sale of the old property is needed to fund the new station,” said City Manager Robert L. Wynn. “If we don’t have that, it’s not funded.”

Under the current plan, public restrooms will be built at the new fire station, which will be constructed at Marine Avenue and Park Street, a few blocks away from the current station.

But residents contend that those facilities would be too far from the main shopping district on Marine Avenue and too near residents’ homes.

“They’re concerned that (would result in) a public restroom in the back yards of residents, whereas in the commercial district it would be more centrally located,” said Tom O’Brien, president of the Balboa Island Improvement Assn.

About six months ago, island residents asked the city to consider retaining the current station’s site and building a public mini-park with restrooms.

The fire station is in the middle of the Marine Avenue commercial district, and restroom facilities there would be helpful because of the lack of public toilets, residents say.

The city agreed that a such a mini-park could be useful and suggested that the residents make the land an assessment district in which residents would pay an annual tax so the city could keep the property.

Residents rejected that idea, and continue to support a plan for the city to buy the land.