Boulder City historic district could get more restrooms

By Jean Reid Norman (contact)

Thursday, July 9, 2009 | 1:59 a.m.

Boulder City may get a second set of public restrooms in its downtown historic district.

The City Council, acting as the board of the Redevelopment Agency, directed City Manager Vicki Mayes Monday seek designs of a proposed restroom at Bicentennial Park in order to get a firm idea of what they would cost.

The city staff had estimated restrooms at the park on Colorado and Utah streets could cost $350,000, but a revised proposal placing the facility next to the Parks and Recreation Building to piggyback on the plumbing brought the ballpark estimate to about $200,000, Mayes said. The design will cost no more than $20,000, she said.

If the proposal goes forward, that would be the second set of public restrooms downtown built with redevelopment money. The first set, at the L.A. Water and Power Building, is scheduled to be completed July 31.

The restrooms were one of the priorities for redevelopment money that the council set at its quarterly meeting as the RDA board.

Other priorities included exploring improvements to U.S. 93 coming into Boulder City from Railroad Pass, researching the ownership of property between businesses and the railroad right-of-way along Nevada Highway and getting estimates to replace aging power poles.

The council also voted to suspend its grant program, which provided RDA money to businesses that made improvements within the district. One-quarter of RDA funds were earmarked for the program.

The proposed restrooms at Bicentennial Park would be next to the playground, Community Development Director Brok Armantrout said. The playground would not be affected, but a couple of trees would have to be removed, he said.

“I hope we make that a high priority because of the events that are there,” Councilman Cam Walker said.

Mayes asked council members to consider which part of Nevada Highway it wanted to focus on improving, suggesting that city funds could do the most good in the section from Yucca Avenue to Buchanan Boulevard.

She said she had been told that city property lies between many of the businesses and the railroad right-of-way on the north side of the road, which might offer an opportunity to trade parcels to make improvements on the highway. But she added more research would need to be done on property ownership. The council asked her to go ahead with that research but did not make that stretch of Nevada Highway a priority.

Councilwoman Linda Strickland asked the board to look at improvements along U.S. 93 from the Searchlight turnoff to Veterans Memorial Drive.

“The entrance to our community is just horrid,” she said.

Mayes said that would be an easy project to complete, and state funds might be available.

Suspending the grant program would make an extra $300,000 available in the next year for such improvements, a memo to the RDA board said.

More than $1 million has been approved through the program, but applications from businesses have dried up, Armantrout said.

The RDA grant program had been questioned by some council members, who noted that state law requires “no other reasonable means of financing those buildings, structures or other improvements are available.”

Members decided to suspend the program to give them an opportunity to reexamine the city’s redevelopment programs and how they might want to change them in the future. Only Mayor Roger Tobler was on the council when the RDA policies were adopted in 2005.