Joomla Login LightBox powered by WowJoomla.com

The Smithville Downtown Heritage District recently announced plans to solve a longstanding problem in the downtown courtyard: the lack of a public restroom.

Cherrine Wheeler, president of the Smithville Downtown Heritage District, said downtown businesses have had to contend for years with people in the courtyard flooding their businesses looking for a restroom during events, because there’s usually no alternative.

“What happens is anytime there is an event in downtown there’s no place to use the restroom, although sometimes there are porta potties,” she said. “So they go to the businesses and want to use the restrooms and we try to comply, but people have locked themselves in our bathroom and used all of our hot water before or taken all the toilet paper and clogged the stool.”

To solve the problem, Wheeler and the Smithville Downtown Heritage District want to raise the funds necessary to build a public restroom somewhere downtown on city-owned land.

Wheeler said the group is looking into obtaining grant money for the project as well as holding fundraisers such as a poker tournament and a bingo tournament sometime this spring to raise funds.

The Heritage District is looking into the possibility of a restroom with two toilets, one for men and one for women that would operated by the city. As for the location, Wheeler said the Heritage District is considering asking to use city-owned land between the Smithville Area Chamber of Commerce building and City Hall.

However, the idea is still in its infancy and Wheeler said she doesn’t have many specifics pinned down such as the cost of the project or its final design.

Wheeler will be addressing the Smithville Park Board on the idea at the next meeting Monday, Feb. 8, at 7 p.m.

Sheri Chapman, chairman of the Park Board, said the lack of a public restroom in the courtyard has been an issue for sometime and she’s excited the Heritage District is taking the initiative on it and trying to raise funds.

“It’s something we have discussed before and it’s always been a goal of ours,” she said. “With the festivals growing and attracting more people downtown, we need to consider adding a restroom.”

The Park Board, Chapman said, has had trouble in the past finding funding and the time to push the project forward, but that may not be an issue if the Heritage District is successful.

Staff writer Michael Westblade can be reached at 389-6636 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Comments (0)

Subscribe to this comment's feed