Juneau may spend its last prime waterfront lot on a bathroom

Juneau has a rare piece of open downtown waterfront left, and the city's current plan for it is a public restroom and a covered place to stand. That's the tension now moving through City Hall as the project's structural drawings come in.

The building would sit next to the Seawalk, about 2,736 square feet, with men's, women's, and family restrooms and a covered waiting area — seats for roughly 90 people, standing room for close to 180. It's part of the Downtown Waterfront Improvements Phase II project, aimed at the crush of foot traffic the cruise season brings.

Not everyone is sold on the site. At an April finance meeting, Assembly Member Greg Smith asked whether the city had weighed other options for what he called "some key waterfront real estate." "Do we use our last piece of… key waterfront real estate for bathrooms and covered areas for people to stand," he said, "versus something that potentially could be more valuable or useful there?"

The city held an open house on the design in April and said it wanted public input on how the building could serve a range of uses year-round. The Visitor Industry Task Force 2.0 is set to hear an update Thursday evening.