Completion targeted for Memorial Day weekend

Ocean Beach residents awoke recently to a sight long anticipated by both locals and visitors. The public restrooms and shower facilities at the end of Brighton Street near Dog Beach — whose demolition and subsequent absence during peak summer beach months has been the source of frustration since 2009 — began returning to life about two weeks ago. A six-foot-high fence has been erected and construction trailers and signs have begun to appear. For the last couple of years since the facilities were deemed antiquated and unsafe — leading to their demolition — the question has been kicked around as to if, when and how to rebuild the unit. The rebuild has been at the center of a controversy between the City Council, the Ocean Beach Planning Board and the community at large over issues like budget availability, structural design, overall necessity and misuse by homeless vagabonds. Three years ago in September, city officials proposed a timeframe of 18 months — or March 2011 — to reconstruct the public restroom and shower facilities. In the interim, 10 portable restrooms have stood at the site, including two meant to conform to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) for relief. The lease on the 10 portables was more than $1,300 a month for the 18-month period, for a total of about $24,000. However, the city reduced the number of stalls to six during the beach off-season, saving about $800 per month. Now, it appears locals and visitors will not have to wait much longer for permanent facilities to be built. According to Matt Awbrey, communications director for District 2 City Councilman Kevin Faulconer, officials hope to have the new structure completed by Memorial Day weekend and open for the peak summer beach crush. The roughly $850,000 project was awarded to PRAVA Construction Services Inc., an Escondido-based general contractor. Awbrey said several false starts resulted from a thorny bidding process and inadequate municipal funding. Awbrey added, however, that Faulconer has made it a priority to see the project completed and to resolve questions over inefficiencies of various city departments involved in the bidding phase. Faulconer has personally requested an independent audit of errors made involving previous city projects, Awbrey said. He said community input played a major role in the design for the new structure, as residents chose from various ideas when the city presented options to local planners. As a result, said Awbrey, residents and visitors will see new, modern facilities with highly efficient solar panels, secure bike racks, decorative beach-oriented concrete and graffiti-proof tiles to undermine common vandalism. Jeff Roach, a 21-year-old traveler who recently arrived in Ocean Beach, said he had heard from fellow travelers that Ocean Beach has had a public bathroom dilemma for the last couple of years and had prepared himself for the worst. His reaction to the soon-to-be-rebuilt establishments: “Right on! I’m very happy to hear that. They [the city] should put back the public restrooms. There are many locals here who need them daily. Those locals are forced to use the portable bathrooms. That‘s gross already by itself. On top of that, those things give you no privacy at all.” Andrew Bruck, a three-year local resident and surfer, said he never uses the temporary bathrooms installed since the permanent facility’s demolition. “Showers would be great to have,” he said. “I would like to rinse off my sandy feet and my board. I don’t bother with the showers at Tower 2. That’s a 10-minute walk from here when you’re sandy, wet and carrying a surfboard, just to rinse off.” Sandy Clark, a 30-year resident, remembers the facilities as “a total mess.” “They were rusting and totally falling apart,” Clark said. “Unusable. These upcoming new ones [bathrooms] were long overdue and more than necessary. [The public facilities at the lifeguard station at] Tower 2 couldn’t carry it alone anymore. We get too many people here.”