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Years in the making, the Mountain View Whisman School District has added public restrooms on the fields of three of its campuses for use by community members outside of school hours.
The undertaking at Imai, Landels and Castro/Mistral elementary schools, which school board members approved in 2021, was delayed for a few years while the school district negotiated an agreement for the joint use of campus outdoor areas with the city of Mountain View. The talks broke down, causing a public rift between the city and school district in 2023, but the parties ultimately reached a deal in early 2024 that ensured the public could continue to use recreational spaces at local schools when classes aren’t in session.
With that agreement in place, the school board approved a construction contract for the restrooms in October of last year. The city and school district agreed to split the project costs evenly, and the city is responsible for restroom maintenance, according to Mountain View Whisman spokesperson Shelly Hausman. For students’ safety, the restrooms will be locked and not in use during school hours.
The restrooms were initially expected to cost $1.2 million, but because of inflation in construction prices, the estimated final cost is sitting at about $1.78 million, Hausman said. The bathroom buildings have been finished and are available for use, but landscaping work surrounding them is still ongoing, which could affect the ultimate total, she added.
The district is paying for its half of the venture using funds from the $259 million Measure T bond that voters passed in 2020.
Mountain View Whisman started on this project after realizing that the community needed convenient access to bathrooms after school hours, Hausman said, adding that many youth sports leagues use the fields for practices. Landels, Imai and Castro/Mistral were the only campuses without bathrooms already available for community members, Hausman said.
In 2021, the district gathered community input to help determine the location and design of the prefabricated, standalone bathroom buildings, which each have two toilets. At Landels, the bathrooms are located on the southwest side of the field, near the gate from Mercy Street; at Imai, on the southwest corner of the field, between the multi-use room and baseball diamond; and at Castro/Mistral, on the southeast corner of the field, near the Latham Street tot lot.
The bathrooms on each campus are open for public use daily during non-school hours, closing 30 minutes after sunset. According to a notice posted on the schools’ Facebook pages, if the bathrooms are closed when they should be open, community members should call 650-903-6344 to reach the Mountain View Police Department’s non-emergency line.
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Great news, although I’m strongly in favor of having these (and City facilities) open at all hours. Certainly longer than past sunset, which is highly arbitrary. As a parks user myself after sunset, I can tell you I’m not alone, and a lot of people are there using the park facilities. Not to mention those biking and walking through town and need these important stop points working for them.
Glad to see this happening.
Curious when non school hours are? Starting when after school on school days? And when do these new restrooms open on weekends? Happy these have been added.