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Vandalism at park facilities across the country has been an ongoing issue. Restrooms, concessions and multipurpose buildings often are hit with damaged doors or other interior fixtures critical to the facility. During off-hours or at night, these structures are vulnerable to crime or vandalism and replacing items can be costly. Public restrooms are targeted and mistreated, especially in cities where facilities are accessible 24 hours a day. Drug use is another aspect that takes place in these structures and that can create a dangerous environment for families recreating at the nearby park. One way to combat security concerns is to design a building that structurally reduces the capability of vandals and criminals.

City of Medford Prioritizes Vandal-Proof Design

City of Medford in southern Oregon had a history with people breaking into its parks’ restrooms and destroying steel doors so often that the city had to replace these expensive items every couple of months.

“We were using concrete precast restrooms with single occupancy and people were camping in there. The fire department would have to check on them and pry the doors open,” Tim Stevens, City of Medford park and open space manager, says. “We wanted to be able to gain access to the restroom easier, while also being able to see into them. Also, we had issues with the precast buildings settling and causing pooling in the corners.

“The design is an actual constructed building and hasn’t had settling issues. There are no mirrors, no toilet seats, so very minimalist, to reduce vandalism.”

City of Medford came up with the preliminary design of a door/gate system to protect the doors with an outer gate, and Romtec took it through to fruition for the Bear Creek Park and Cedar Links Park restroom buildings.

The special design utilizes a custom steel “gate door.” This custom door is padlocked in the open position during the day and in the closed position at night for added security. When the door is open, it leads to an open hallway with block partitions obstructing the line of sight to the restroom stalls. The block partitions lessen the number of doors on the building overall and are much harder to destroy. There are also double gates over the gate door, creating two barriers for vandals to get through when the building is locked at night.

This gate and door design nearly eliminates destroyable doors from the building or other vandalism. The restroom’s only door is entirely inaccessible, as the metal gate blocks access.

Additionally, the block used on the Cedar Links building features strategic breaks at ground level, combined with a security light. The security light sits on the front of the restroom structure and activates if motion is detected after hours. Occupants can then be seen through the breaks in the block. This allows police to easily identify if someone is in the building without having to enter or even leave their vehicle. The door and gate system, along with the security light and apertures for visibility, make vandalism nearly unachievable at the parks’ restrooms.

The Sidewalk Restroom

Another way to combat vandalism through restroom building design is the sidewalk restroom. Its modern design features motivate fast use of the facility. The sleek metal exterior and louvered vents around the structure provide heavy ventilation. These sidewalk restrooms are helpful in urban areas with high foot traffic day or night. All interior fixtures are stainless steel, and louvers allow occupants to be seen from the knees down, allowing law enforcement the ability to observe the occupant while outside of the structure. The lights switch colors to indicate occupancy and can be observed from the outside through the vents.

Extra Security Features

Security lights can be placed on the outside of a restroom to indicate occupancy, and some structures can include specialty lighting that discourages intravenous drug use. Other features include timed door locks, anti-graffiti coatings, access gates, motion sensor lights and more. With vandalism, security threats and drug use creating issues nationwide, municipalities are prioritizing restroom designs that are safe, are effective at combating vandalism and reduce operating costs from losses.

Josh Gaunt is a Content Writer at Romtec, Inc.