BENZIE COUNTY, Mich., (WPBN/WGTU) — A controversial project to build a bathroom on Frankfort Beach is going in a different direction.
Frankfort city council members voted Thursday night to move the location of the bathroom.
“Someone has removed all the stakes in the ground,” City Council Member Dale Charters said. “So that’s not good, that’s basically very inappropriate.”
In a preemptive move not handled by the contractor, Frankfort’s city council revealed to the public at its special meeting Thursday that the stakes that once marked the location of a new bathroom on Frankfort Beach had disappeared.
Unfortunately, the beach bathroom issue has divided our community, as we’re well aware, and we need to resolve those problems and move on for the good of all of us.
Tension has waved through the community since people noticed how close the new bathroom would be to the water.
“I don’t think any one location is going to satisfy everybody as a whole,” Charters said.
A subcommittee worked on the location and design of the bathroom for more than two years.
And most of its members were at the meeting to explain why they supported one location over another.
“They were handcuffed at the very beginning. And I think if you had taken a poll, they would have said we don’t like any of our choices,” one resident said during public comment.
Ultimately, the city council voted to move the bathroom back to Miami Street, although they don’t know exactly where along it yet.
“We’re going to throw a bathroom within feet of their back windows, and I know there’s no guarantee but all us who have purchased homes I don’t care if you’re out in the country or wherever. If somebody puts a bathroom in front of your house, how would you feel?” one resident said during public comments.
Now that they’re changing course, the city council also has to redo the bathroom’s design and cancel its contract with the builder.
Some people say they feel bad so much time and money was essentially flushed away.
“There was a bathroom on the beach that got torn down. And shortly after that, as discussion went on about what to do about a bathroom on the beach, the then mayor said we will not be repeating history but of course, we’re close to it,” one resident said during public comments.