Bangor’s New Public Restrooms To Be Retrofitted For ADA Compliance

At the beginning of this year, the Bangor City Council approved a plan to build half a dozen public restroom units throughout the city.

Each public bathroom would cost about $17,500 to construct. The project was approved for a total of $250,000.

Aside from the construction costs, the Bangor City Council also allocated money to incorporate a beautification/art campaign into the construction of all the units and extra money for maintenance and upkeep.

Read More: Bangor City Council Plans Phased Roll-Out of 5 Public Restrooms

The first two units went in at Cascade Park and Broad Street, at the beginning of the summer with the next units scheduled to be constructed on Abbot Street and at Coe Park.

All of the units were supposed to be installed by the end of the summer, but have hit a speed bump of sorts.

Read More: Take A Peek At Bangor's New Public Bathrooms

It was recently pointed out that the new structures are not ADA compliant, and need to be adjusted.

City Manager, Deb Laurie, mentioned in a City Council Workshop last week that the City's Engineering Department reviewed the schematics used to construct the public restrooms, which a third-party firm prepared, and they were indeed not compliant with ADA standards.

Laurie added, "Our staff is reviewing and meeting with the actual contractor and will have to go back to the group that engineered it, but we do have two units that have yet to be delivered, so we'll ensure that those units are in compliance with ADA and we will deliver those to sites that currently have units, be able to remove those and retrofit them, and get them back so that we products that we buy are in accordance with the RFP that we issued."

David Warren,  Administrative and Communications Manager for the City Manager’s Office, says that despite Laurie's explanation, there have been some incorrect media accounts of how the process of updating the restrooms will work.

"The restrooms will not be removed for any length of time. There are two bathroom units that were either recently assembled or are nearing completion and the City is working with the contractor/manufacturer to ensure they’re ADA compliant. Those units will then be installed, replacing ones that are not compliant. The ones that are not compliant will then be retrofitted – ensuring they meet ADA standards – and then reinstalled for public use."

"Any cost will be covered by the contractor/manufacturer, not the City or its taxpayers. The City contract made clear that each bathroom unit must meet all applicable state and federal laws, including ADA. The contractor/manufacturer fell short on this and is working to make it right."

There is no word yet on how much of a delay the retrofitting process will have on the overall timeline.