Farmers market asks city for bathrooms

For more than a decade, Phil Pagano has had a bathroom problem.

Pagano, the director of the Sarasota Farmers Market, said he’s spent years raising concerns about the lack of permanent restrooms for visitors. Each week, organizers have stationed portable toilets throughout the market’s downtown footprint, but Pagano doesn’t think that’s a sufficient solution.

That’s why, on Sunday, the farmers market announced it was asking the city to consider options for adding a permanent bathroom in the area — including granting permission for the market to build a new structure on public land. The market's preferred proposal calls for the construction of a pavilion at Paul Thorpe Park with a small amphitheater in addition to restrooms.

In a letter sent to the City Commission, Pagano proposed the city could lease a portion of the park to the market, which would be responsible for building the new structure. The restrooms would be open to the public during the Saturday market, and other organizations holding events downtown would also be able to use the facility.

Pagano said the market would be willing to fund the design, construction and maintenance of such a facility. Pagano suggested any nonprofit groups interested in using the structure would be responsible for paying a small fee and providing a police officer during the event.

“We’re ready to fund it ourselves,” Pagano said. “I think it’ll help the whole city, not just the market.”

Pagano said he’s raised the restroom issue with city staff, but he’s yet to hear a substantive response. On Tuesday, city spokesman Jason Bartolone said officials had received the proposal but had not had an opportunity to substantively study the concept’s feasibility.

The city is preparing a $3.7 million project to renovate Lemon Avenue and Paul Thorpe Park, where the market has traditionally been held. The market temporarily relocated to a different portion of downtown earlier this year because of construction. Pagano thought it would be a missed opportunity not to consider the potential of a permanent restroom facility as the city began construction in the area.

Bartolone said city staff hoped farmers market representatives would attend an upcoming open house on the Lemon Avenue improvement project to discuss the bathroom proposal with the community.

In his letter to the commission, Pagano said the market is willing to consider other options for adding restrooms. Those options included the installation of bathrooms in the State Street parking garage or the allocation of space in Paul Thorpe Park for a portable restroom trailer.

Earlier this year, the city authorized the design of public restrooms on St. Armands Circle, where businesses have long advocated for such a facility.

Pagano is hopeful city leaders will be open to the idea of a similar endeavor downtown.

“The small vendors we have that put a lot of time into the success of the market deserve to at least have a facility that would be up to standards for such a great city,” Pagano wrote in his letter to the city.