When you’ve gotta go, you’ve gotta go.
And, with the sea of visitors crowding into Greenport during the height of the season, enjoying events such as the upcoming Tall Ships Festival and the Maritime Festival, the pressure is on for the masses to find rest rooms, which are in short supply in the village.
Restaurants such as the Blue Canoe are left trying to juggle the steady stream of visitors, who are not patrons of the eatery, asking to use their facilities.
Their policy thus far has been to allow use of their bathrooms, but, according to John Olinkiewicz, owner of Wooden House Construction, who appeared before the Greenport planning board yesterday representing Blue Canoe owners Lisa and Terry Harwood, the time has come to find a solution.
The Harwoods, he said, have proposed two seasonal, handicapped accessbile toilets, to be constructed outside on the deck of the eatery. The facilities would help to alleviate some of the village traffic — and non-customers — asking to use the bathrooms.
“It’s hard for them to turn people away,” Olinkiewicz said, adding that the Harwoods were willing to pay for the entire installation without village funding.
“This will benefit the village,” he said. “Just on the Dances in the Park days alone, the two stalls in the women’s bathroom and one stall in the men’s at the public bathroom on the east side of Mitchell Park are just not enough to handle the overflow, so people are asking business owners to use their bathrooms.”
There would be no increase in lot coverage, Olinkiewicz said; that number will remain at 59 percent. The bathrooms, he added, would be “clearly outside” of the wetlands area.
Drainage is something that needs to be addressed, he said; the plan would be to install a dry well. The dry well would be sited on the area that has a deck.
“We see this as a win-win situation for both the owners and the village,” Olinkiewicz said. Neither the number of seats nor the occupancy of the building itself would change, except for one bathroom inside being made handicapped accessible.
He added that there is a provision in the code for seasonal use of a structure for nine months. And, if a permanent solution would take time to implement, Olinkiewicz said he’d be happy to put up temporary bathrooms for the short-terms.
“The owners would like to find a solution that would help for this summer season and we’re asking how to proceed to make this work for everyone,” he said.
Planning board member Ben Burns asked if current waste goes into the village sewer system; Olinkiewicz said yes, and the two bathrooms would not change the amount because the public is already using the bathrooms. “We’re not changing the flow,” he said, adding that the new bathrooms would also be attached to the sewer.
“We’re trying to make this as low-impact for the village and people visiting as possible,” he said.
Over the past 20 years, the revitalization of the village has been “tremendous. I know you guys have had a hard time keeping up with that and in that spirit, the owners are trying to do their share.”
Planning board chair Devin McMahon said while in a general sense, making an existing bathroom handicapped accessible is a good thing, “the devil is in the details.”
While the area in question is a drainage pit, planning board member Pat Mundus said, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation has jurisdiction over that area. Planning board consultant Glynis Berry said the applicant would have to ask for a letter of non-jurisdiction from the DEC.
Mundus, however, said the lack of bathrooms, as well as the lack of dumpster space, is a village issue and should be brought to the village board of trustees for discussion.
A letter from the Harwoods was read into the record, stating that the visitors who are not customers and are asking to use the rest rooms presented a “continued hardship”; the solution proposed, they said, would be “mutually beneficial to all.” While not asking for financial assistance they asked for the board’s assistance in moving the matter forward expeditiously.
Mundus said that the East End Seaport Museum grapples with the same issue of ferry passengers and others asking to use the facilities.
“Most everyone on the west side of the village knows we need more bathrooms,” Mundus said, adding that while the Blue Canoe’s offer was a generous one, she did not think it provided a long-term solution to the village. She added that was probably already a porta potty plan in place for the Tall Ships festival.
Olinkiewicz then asked about the seasonal option, for this summer; some companies make moveable bathrooms, he said.
Mundus said she believed that was a better short-term solution than building a whole new structure.
“I’m trying to find solution that works well for everyone,” Olinkiewicz said. A temporary bathroom would work for the season, he said, adding that the hope was to address the problem soon. “While it is a village issue it is still a Blue Canoe issue, too.”
Berry said the applicant needed to go the trustees, since the parcel was adjacent to wetlands, but said she saw no problem with a temporary structure. She said again that a letter of non-jurisdiction from the DEC would be needed. Building inspector Eileen Wingate suggested Olinkiewicz start with a wetlands application.
The discussion was tabled until the next planning board work session on July 30.
