Contract Awarded for Park Restrooms

The Ventura City Council decided Monday night to award a $195,111 contract to an Oxnard construction company to rebuild public restrooms in downtown Ventura’s Plaza Park.

Hansons and Son Construction Inc. offered the lowest of six bids for the project, which is designed to spruce up one of the city’s most heavily visited parks.

“We all know we spent several million on the redevelopment of downtown,” Councilwoman Rosa Lee Measures said. “We continue to have visitors ask about where there is an adequate [public bathroom] facility.”

While agreeing that a new restroom was badly needed, City Councilman Jack Tingstrom and two public speakers questioned the cost. “I still think we are too high,” Tingstrom said.

But other members of the council said a more stylized--and subsequently more costly--building is needed to blend in with the area’s historic character.

“We can’t just put in a restroom,” Councilman Stephen Bennett said. “We have to put in something that fits downtown.”

The council agreed in June to give Plaza Park a face lift by demolishing the dour-looking, poorly lit restrooms that are now closed to the public. They will be replaced with a Craftsman--style building with a decorative copper roof.

An earth mound located next to the restrooms, which covers a decades-old concrete bunker, will be removed as well.

The council approved transferring $108,000 from its park facilities fund to pay for the project, which also includes landscaping, irrigation and electrical modifications. Construction of the new facilities will take about six months.

In other business, the council agreed to postpone from Sept. 11 to Sept. 18 a public hearing on granting a franchise for a new trolley service.

Last month, the council approved an operating agreement with Ventura County Shuttle Inc. to start a trolley service. The city agreed to pay $24,000 to purchase a trolley and lease it to a private operator for $1 a year.

The old-fashioned green trolley is being manufactured on the East Coast and is due to arrive this fall.