SAN ANGELO, Texas — A San Angelo parent felt there was a need for a community restroom at Meadowcreek Park in the Southland area. So, the City of San Angelo Parks and Recreation tasked him with the job of creating a petition to find out how much interest there is to add public restrooms to the park.
“There's a larger community that doesn't even live in these neighborhoods that frequent this park a lot. If you see during our seasons or tons of people just in and out of this park, the biggest thing that doesn't keep them here is because we don't have restrooms,” petition creator Chase Bruton said.
Bruton opened the petition to the public at 5 p.m. July 5 and as of Wednesday, it is well over the initial goal of 200 signatures.
One parent at the park said having a restroom could make their park experience more enjoyable.
“As a mom with kids, we've all been there where your kids are like hey, I have to go to the restroom and I've got to go pee and you say hey, we can go to Target down the road or to the mall. It's a hassle, especially when you have young kids,” parent Peaches McWilliams said.
Bruton also said sewer and water are present and in close proximity to be able to add a restroom and recreational use facility.
To help with this idea, Bruton also plans to get advice from those who worked to get restrooms installed at other local parks to speed up the process.
“I live in the community. I know a lot of people in this community and they have interest already in having restrooms at this park. So I just want to make sure that they're committed to it and know the good and bad because there's some people that are against it as well. I want to just gain that interest from the entire community and see how we can move forward,” he said.
Once Bruton takes the petition results to parks and recreation, a case will be built to then take to City Council for a more in-depth discussion at a later date.