‘It’s been 20 years’: Showdown over public toilet on St Kilda’s famous strip

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Key points

• A vote at Port Phillip Council on Wednesday will decide the fate of a proposed toilet block in St Kilda
• The toilet block site has become controversial due to its proximity to a state primary school
• Advocates for the toilets say Fitzroy Street needs toilets for its economic health
• Many in the school community fear the toilets could attract drug-taking and criminal behaviour near the close and endanger children
• A change of the political make-up of council since the decision to proceed with the toilet means the plan could be knocked over on Wednesday

A heated debate about whether a new public toilet on St Kilda’s Fitzroy Street would lure drug-takers and criminals to a primary school is headed for round two at a council meeting on Wednesday, when dissenting councillors will attempt to stall the toilet construction.

Parents and residents near the St Kilda Park Primary School are hoping enough councillors change their minds at the next vote and quash the plans for a public toilet within 100 metres of the school grounds.

After 12 months of sustained pressure from the school community, a councillor will move to halt the plan.Credit: Joe Armao

The City of Port Phillip infuriated the school community in April last year when temporary fencing appeared without notice on a piece of state-owned parkland, which is used daily by the school as green space. The fencing advertised a forthcoming public toilet block, which would fulfil a long-term goal of the council to install amenities along Fitzroy Street.

“Fitzroy Street is a vibrant place. I love it, I live there … but there is no denying that there is an element of anti-social behaviour which can be threatening and aggressive from people who are experiencing mental health and drug issues,” says the school’s principal, Neil Scott, who has spent over a year campaigning against the toilets he believes will put his pupils at risk.

“Our fear is building the public toilets near the school could attract some of that anti-social behaviour to the school.”

Scott presented a petition of 1300 signatures to a council meeting in June last year urging a rethink of the site, but a vote narrowly passed, approving the location.

After 12 months of sustained pressure from the school community, independent councillor Rhonda Clarke will at Wednesday night’s council meeting move to halt the plan and find another site.

“There is currently no contractor to proceed with the project at the moment, so there’s an opportunity to consider the community’s opposition,” Clarke said.

“I don’t think any of us would want anything unfortunate to happen to children – no matter how much public toilets may be a required service for the community.”

In its 10-year public toilet plan, the council identified Fitzroy Street as an area in need of public toilets due to public urination at night from nightclub patrons.

Councillors supportive of the public toilet say it is needed to ‘normalise’ Fitzroy Street and bring back shoppers.Credit: Joe Armao

But attempts over the years to place them at various sites, such as Jackson Street, had never proceeded due to public disagreement over location.

In its new draft toilet strategy for the next decade, council planners have again nominated Fitzroy Street as an in-demand place.

“Council has been looking for a location for a public toilet there for 20 years on Fitzroy Street,” said Liberal-aligned Deputy Mayor Andrew Bond, who believes the toilet block should go ahead at the park site.

“We always get to this point, then people object to it going near them. Everyone says they’re not against a toilet but they want it to go in the next block.

“This is nothing new – this has been going on since the 1980s – the conflict between residents and people who are down on their luck a bit who come to St Kilda for the services that are there for them.”

Bond and other councillors supportive of the site said elderly shoppers, in particular, avoided shopping on the strip due to the lack of toilets.

But parent David Williams, who has been lobbying with the school group to state MP Nina Taylor and federal MP Josh Burns, said the proposed toilet location was not in the busiest part of Fitzroy Street.

A public toilet at Shakespeare Grove in St Kilda, a similar design to what is being proposed for Fitzroy Street.Credit: City of Port Phillip website

“We have to be realistic about where Fitzroy Street is currently at. This is not Brighton or Camberwell – and if you go there, you’d find toilets in the middle of the commercial zone.”

Critics also point to the council’s new draft toilet strategy, which suggests demolishing an existing public toilet on Dandenong Road due to it being “in poor condition and ongoing antisocial behaviour”.

Councillor Clarke, who is sponsoring Wednesday night’s motion, voted against proceeding with the toilet last June alongside Christina Sirakoff and Heather Cunsolo, while councillors Tim Baxter, Bond, Katherine Copsey, Peter Martin and Marcus Pearl all voted for the site.

Labor-affiliated councillor Louise Crawford, who abstained from the last vote, said she would not abstain this time and was “keeping an open mind” as to which way to vote.

Greens councillor Katherine Copsey has also since been replaced by a new councillor, Labor-aligned Robbie Nyaguy, who has not confirmed his vote on the matter.

Port Phillip is the third best-served local government area for public toilets after the City of Yarra and Mornington Peninsula, according to The Age analysis of public data published in May with 87 toilets per 100,000 residents.

The City of Port Phillip was approached for comment.

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