MADAWASKA, Maine — After weeks of controversy regarding the location of a newly constructed public bathroom adjacent to a Vietnam veterans war memorial, selectmen agreed Monday to move the facilities to a new site.
“They determined that, at this point, there is no viable location in the park for the bathrooms that would make everyone happy,” Town Manager Ryan Pelletier said Tuesday morning.
Town officials had considered multiple locations within the park before building the bathrooms, but neighbors had objected to having the facility built near their homes.
When new restrooms were built in June, veterans expressed disappointment and anger at the placement so close to the memorial that was dedicated in 1996.
Marcel Gendreau of Madawaska, one of the Vietnam veterans who helped create the memorial, said at the time that it was disrespectful and “shows total disregard for the 21 names on the memorial.”
“I am glad that it’s finally over, and those guys can rest in peace,” fellow veteran Jack Meyers said Wednesday.
The Catholic Diocese of Portland owns the land on which Bicentennial Park is located and where regular summer music concerts and Acadian Festival events are held. Before the restrooms were built, the site only featured a single portable toilet.
The town had received multiple complaints about the lack of facilities and also about the smell of the portable unit from both neighbors and people using the park. The new facility, which features running water, two toilets and a urinal, was hooked up in time for the first summer series concert on June 16.
Pelletier said the parish consulted with neighbors surrounding the park about possible locations for the new bathrooms, but not any veterans.
The controversy eventually involved the local parish priest and representatives of the local American Legion Post, which owns the actual memorial. A committee was set up to consider options, and during Monday night’s regular Select Board meeting, the board members agreed that it was best to move the restroom building to a location near the school soccer field on 11th Avenue.
Pelletier said that it would cost the town an estimated $1,500, including labor and equipment, to have the public works department move the structure.
“It is town-owned property and has easy access to water and sewer,” the town manager said of the new site, which is located about a quarter mile from Bicentennial Park.
The sports fields area also has a concession stand and is heavily used during the school sports season, according to Pelletier. He added that a new, larger and handicapped accessible portable toilet would be placed at Bicentennial Park where the previous one had stood before the new bathrooms were built.
Public works crews will dismantle and relocate the restroom building after the Labor Fest concert on Sept. 5, the final musical event at the park this summer.
The work will be completed by Oct. 1, Pelletier said.