Why Renovate the Library’s Public Bathrooms?
Pardon us during construction. It will be worth the wait!
The existing public bathrooms were built nearly 30 years ago as part of the building’s 1996 Addition & Renovation. Regular maintenance and smaller repairs (replace a toilet or sink, patch walls, paint, manage drains, etc.) have been done over the years, but the bathrooms show the wear of heavy use. (Pre-COVID, the Library has an estimated 2,200 visitors each week, many of them using the bathrooms, along with drop-ins such as joggers who found the Library a convenient spot along their jogging route.)
Reconfiguration rather than updating is recommended for a few reasons. This is an opportunity to both modernize and introduce efficiencies. In 30 years, improved mechanical efficiencies and designs have been made along with societal changes occurring. Single occupancy space became very important during COVID-19. Locker room-style bathrooms in an open public building, like a library, are no longer the norm. The new facilities will be more efficient for utilities like water and electricity.
Because the new design requires infrastructure changes (water lines, electrical, etc.) both rooms need to be done at once; phasing one, then the other was not an option.
This improvement is funded as part of the Town’s Capital Improvement Plan.
