More beach work OKd

June Casagrande

NEWPORT BEACH -- Two of the beach’s worst bathrooms will soon be

bulldozed and replaced, the City Council decided Tuesday.

Public restrooms at Balboa Pier and Washington Street, under a

$531,000 contract approved with Klassic Inc., will be closed, probably

beginning mid-November. Portable toilets will be in use for about 12

weeks while the new bathrooms are constructed.

“We timed this to coincide with the slow season,” said Lloyd Dalton of

the city’s Public Works Department.

Earlier this month, the council approved spending $158,000 for work at

four other beach restrooms -- 15th Street, Newport Pier, Orange Street

and 58th Street -- where light fixtures and other appliances will be

replaced and upgraded. Tuesday’s action means the majority of beach

restrooms in the city will get improvements.

And in September, the council OKd the biggest renovation of both

Balboa and Newport piers in 60 years. The $2.7-million work will

strengthen the structures and improve their looks.

Balboa Pier bathrooms were originally designed to be unisex, Dalton

said, but the small stalls have been a hindrance to good ventilation and

easy cleaning. The city will replace these with traditional bathrooms,

stalls inside a larger room. And both sites will have an increased number

of toilets.

Balboa now has six facilities for men and five for women. Those will

be replaced with six on the men’s side and eight for women. The

Washington Street restroom has a total of six toilets for men and women.

After construction, there will be 11: five for women, and six for men.

They will all have better ventilation and be made easierto clean with

hose hookups and other features.

“Our goal is to make them easier to maintain and easier to ventilate

and brighter,” Dalton said.

-- June Casagrande covers Newport Beach. She may be reached at (949)

574-4232 or by e-mail at o7 june.casagrande@latimes.comf7 .