Tennis and pickleball players at Hart Park and runners and cyclists who regularly pass through the park on the Oak Leaf Trail might remember there once were public restrooms just west of the softball field. They were removed in 2020 because the city found the structure was in a flood plain that includes much of Hart Park.
Now, the City of Wauwatosa is moving forward with plans to build brand new public restrooms and water fountain on that side of the park, this time just outside of the flood plain but still close enough for convenient access by nearby park patrons.
"It's a very constrained site," Parks and Forestry Superintendent Alex Krutsch said at a Sept. 10 meeting of the Wauwatosa Historic Preservation Commission.
The city was able to identify just enough space outside of the flood plain and south of the parking lot to fit two single-occupancy restrooms, both all-gender. Construction timeline will depend on the city's approval process — the Historic Preservation Commission's role was to review the design — though Krutsch said just ordering and receiving the prefabricated restroom structure will entail at least nine months of lead time.
Demand for such a structure is high, Krutsch said. "Ever since 2020, we've been asked by the public, when are we going to put a new bathroom up?"
Concerns about structures in the flood plain proved justified last month, when a storm dumped a large volume of rain over a short period, causing the Menomonee River to overflow its banks, submerging much of the adjacent Hart Park. Flooding of the park was partly by design, because its current configuration was developed years ago to take on water and minimize flooding of nearby businesses and homes.
The planned site of the new restrooms is at an elevation 2 feet above what experts estimate would be under water in a so-called 100-year flood, Krutsch said. In fact, that part of Hart Park was one of the few places in the park that wasn't touched by the Aug. 9 and 10 flooding.
Other facilities at Hart Park were hit hard, especially the football stadium, which remains closed for repairs. Much of the rest of the park has since reopened.
Krutsch told Tosa Forward News after the Sept. 10 meeting that he didn't have a specific target date for installing and opening the new restrooms, though he hopes to have them in place by sometime in 2026. The project is included in the city's capital improvement plan, Krutsch said. He referred further questions about the cost to Wauwatosa Communications Manager Eva Ennamorato.
Ennamorato, when reached by email, declined to provide any information about the project.
