Cirque Park to Get Permanent Restroom Facility, Concessions Stand

Cirque Park is going to get a facelift this spring, with the construction of a permanent restroom and concessions stand. 

The University Place city council approved a construction bid for the facilities at the April 15, 2013 regular meeting.

It was an “exciting day” for the Parks Department, said Gary Cooper, UP’s Parks and Recreation director.

“If you would have told me 20 years ago that I’d be standing in front of the city council excited about a restroom, I would have said you were crazy,” said Cooper. “But, this is a huge move forward for parks in UP.”

At the Cirque Park concessions stand, groups will be able to sell prepackaged foods like pop and ice cream, with a permit from the city.

“This facilties doesn’t allow for frying or [food preparation]. It would have been an extra $50,000 to make the project a full-scale restaurant,” said Cooper. “The intent of the concessions stand is, if the soccer club is renting the park, they can use the concessions portion to help with fundraising.”

The Public Restroom Company from Las Vegas won the city's construction bid and will build the Cirque Park restrooms for $231,870. Overall, the project cost the city about $330,000 with approximately $250,000 collected in park impact fees.

The restroom will be a prefabricated concrete structure, with 8 stalls on each side for men and women. Stalls will have ceiling skylights, which helps reduce electricity costs. Appliances will be made of stainless steel, with electronic flush valves.

There is an acknowledged public safety problem at Cirque Park and Cooper said the bathroom design reflects that, with “the heaviest prison-grade door we can get.”

“If you walk around outside, you can hear what’s going on inside,” said Cooper. “The doors are time-locked and there are infrared motion detectors and light sensors inside.”

The bathroom description drew some chuckles from the city council.

 “It sounds like you’re building a prison,” said mayor pro tem Denise McCluskey.

The bathroom doors will also lock automatically at closing time—from the outside.

“It’s not so much to protect from someone camping out in there, but in case someone tried to let other people in [after hours],” Cooper said.

Ancillary porta-potties will still be needed at the UP Festival this August, but city staff believe these new buildings will help keep city costs down while providing better amenities for parkgoers.

City leaders plans to break in the concessions stand by hosting the UP Festival info booth there this summer.

“This is a long time coming, and will be well-used by all who frequent the park,” said UP Mayor Ken Grassi.