Gibraltar Explores Alternatives for Beach Bathrooms
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A dejected Gibraltar Town Board met Monday, July 16, to discuss options for bathrooms at the Fish Creek beach.
Voters overwhelmingly rejected a proposed $850,000 bathhouse and gathering space at a town meeting July 9. That plan, created with public input collected in two open house sessions and refined in dozens of additional meetings, included two family restrooms, three women’s stalls, a men’s stall and two urinals. The plan was rejected by a vote of 153-58.
Gibraltar Town Board member Bill Johnson said the tone of the meeting gave him the impression that voters wanted bathrooms, but in the simplest manner possible.
“I came away with the impression that the size, cost, and the whole project was not well received,” he said. “I was very happy we got the input, but sad to see all the work gone to waste. They want the restroom facilities basically, and a beach.”
Barb McKesson was disappointed that voters so roundly rejected a plan that she said included all the elements that residents asked for in public sessions and a walking tour through the town.
“We were surprised,” town chair Dick Skare said later. “We’ve talked about this in so many meetings, that was the discouraging thing. But we move forward, the people have spoken, and we’ll come up with a new plan.”
At Sister Bay’s popular Waterfront Park there are four restrooms, two of which are located in the old village hall and difficult to find. This October the village will replace the restrooms next to Bier Zot at a cost of $125,000, adding a family room, two women’s rooms, a men’s room and additional urinals. Village President Dave Lienau said the new facility will be designed to look much like the existing structure. Next on the village agenda is improving the restrooms at the old village hall for use by beachgoers and users of J-Dock at the public marina.
Costs for the Gibraltar structure were driven up because it included heating and air conditioning and a gathering room, modeled after gathering spaces in Peninsula State Park, such as the shelter at Weborg Point. Sister Bay will also not have to run new plumbing or electric to the new bathrooms as Fish Creek will.
Steve Sohns suggested the town look into installing a modular restroom facility like those used by the Door County Parks Department at La Salle Park. He said the ballpark cost for a prefabricated four-stall bathroom is about $175,000, not including pouring a concrete slab and installing plumbing.
McKesson and many of the 12 audience members said any structure should be more than a utilitarian bathroom in the center of the village.
“I also want it to have the flavor of Fish Creek,” McKesson said, suggesting the look of some of the old cottages sprinkled throughout the downtown area. “I think it needs to speak of our community. Obviously it’s not going to look historic, I’ve gotten over that. But I don’t want it to look prefab.”
The town’s plan also includes a pier that would serve as a public space but primarily be used to disguise a stormwater outflow pipe that would take stormwater farther from the beach. Gibraltar resident Vinni Chomeau is a Door County supervisor and a former conservationist with the Door County Soil and Water Conservation Department who led the county’s beach project 12 years ago. She said she spoke with officials at the department who indicated that the long outflow pipe is not necessary with the Vortechs filtration system the town is installing to filter stormwater.
“None of the beaches we worked with installed the pipe because it doesn’t improve water quality,” she said.
The Village of Sister Bay installed a similar system when it expanded its beach, with an outflow pipe near the shore.
The board planned to meet with DNR officials Wednesday to discuss options for the pier, but has not had discussions with the Soil and Water Department regarding the project. At Monday’s meeting the board did not make a final decision on bathroom alternatives, but will contact local contractors to obtain additional options, and seek an official quote on the cost for a modular building.
“I don’t see us totally scrapping everything we’ve done over the last couple of years,” Skare said.
The board did approve Bill Johnson’s idea to clean up the property this summer, removing scrub trees along the beach and sidewalk and leveling some of the cleared property at a cost of no more than $3,500.
The board also acted on several other agenda items. It approved the purchase of a new lawnmower for the Chambers Island Lighthouse, and accepted a $75,000 grant from the Fund for Lake Michigan to be used for the beach project.
The board also approved chip-sealing for Triangle and Juddville roads. Sohns said it’s the first time the town will do chip-sealing on its roads in 20 years. “I hope it’s better now,” he said.
