Downtown Bangor’s two 24/7 public restrooms were removed Tuesday after two years of repeated misuse.
Between the two downtown bathrooms, the city has had to replace five doors and 170 hand sanitizer units in the last year, according to a memo to city councilors ahead of a June budget workshop.
“They are germy, unsanitary, and a blight on our city,” resident Scott Pardy said of the restrooms at a City Council meeting in June.
Residents have complained about unsanitary conditions in the restrooms, citing needles and other waste they’ve found inside, the Bangor Daily News reported last summer. Those complaints continued even after the city ramped up the restrooms’ cleaning schedule.
The restrooms were installed in 2024 after the city purchased six units using $250,000 in federal pandemic relief funds. Two of the six units were never installed and have been in storage.
Two other units were placed around that time in Coe Park and Cascade Park that haven’t been subject to the same level of misuse. Those restrooms will remain, at the recommendation of the parks and recreation department.
“Those are the restrooms that have the least number of cleanliness, repair or public safety issues,” City Manager Carollynn Lear told city councilors at a budget meeting last month.
The city also plans to install two new bathroom units in the Rolland F. Perry City Forest and Essex Woods. Bangor has allocated about $200,000 in next fiscal year’s budget to maintain the four restrooms.
Tracy Willette, Bangor’s parks and recreation director, said he hopes to add the new restrooms within the next month and that his team is currently working to pick the exact locations where they’ll be placed.
There’s one outhouse at the city forest, according to Willette, who added, “certainly with an approximately 700-acre property, having another restroom facility will certainly help patrons that visit the City Forest.”
The city will likely hold a public forum sometime in late summer or early fall to get feedback on potential next steps for additional public restrooms, Willette said.
Bangor plans to eventually remove the concrete foundations that remain in the spots where the restrooms used to be, Willette said.
Four remaining restrooms in public buildings downtown are open with limited hours. Those are:
— Bangor City Hall on Harlow Street: weekdays from 8 a.m. to 4:15 p.m.
— Bangor Public Library on Harlow Street: summer hours Monday to Thursday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., and on Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
— Penobscot Judicial Center on Exchange Street: weekdays from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
— The Harbormaster building on Front Street: open seven days a week during the summer from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. with hours subject to change