The toilet in question was relocated from Waihī Beach and installed near a walkway and cycleway in the Ōmokoroa reserve in June.
Several residents held a protest during construction and police were called.
Police were called after residents protested the installation of a public toilet at Ōmokoroa’s Precious Family Reserve. Photo / Haley Doig
The history leading up to that moment included concept planning for the reserve, community consultation, and a later change of planned location in the reserve for the toilet facility.
Some 376 residents signed a petition opposing the toilet after a public meeting.
Most of them wanted no toilet in the reserve. The rest were split between putting it elsewhere in the reserve, or elsewhere in Ōmokoroa. One person supported the location.
At Tuesday’s Projects and Monitoring Committee meeting, Ōmokoroa community members appealed for the toilet to be removed.
Ōmokoroa resident and Beca business director John Duffy. Photo / Bijou Johnson
Beca business director John Duffy, Ōmokoroa Environmental Managers Incorporated chairman Roger Goodman and fellow residents Judy Sampson, Bruce McCabe and Graham McKinstry addressed the meeting.
Sampson, who became locked in the toilet on February 1, said she was “neutral” on the toilet’s positioning, but wanted to voice her safety concerns.
She said after using the toilet, which had no paper and would not flush, she discovered the button to open the door was not working.
She said it felt like 32C inside the toilet. A high of 26C was recorded at a Tauranga Airport weather station that day.
“This must be what it was like during the war, when the Japanese locked people in tin sheds,” Sampson told councillors.
“It got hotter and hotter … it wouldn’t have been a nice way to go”, she said.
Her husband recruited neighbours to help force the toilet door open.
The incident was reported to the council.
A report by reserves and facilities manager Peter Watson said it was investigated and issues with the electronic locking mechanism were resolved and the toilet system updated.
Councillor Allan Sole apologised to Sampson for any part the council played in the incident.
The other Ōmokoroa residents who spoke at the meeting advocated for the toilet’s removal.
Goodman said it was an “eyesore”.
“It’s in the wrong position, stuck right in the middle of the reserve.”
He said the toilet’s original location, beside a tree boundary, should have been upheld.
McCabe and Duffy criticised the council’s communication and said it “completely ignored the feelings of locals who used the reserve”.
Duffy said the communication was “less than good practice at every stage”.
Ōmokoroa residents Judy Sampson (from left), John Duffy, Roger Goodman and Bruce McCabe. Photo / Bijou Johnson
He said the community was not informed of the facility’s relocation before the engineering surveys began.
Watson’s report said staff accepted there could have been better communication, especially as seven years passed between consultation and installation, and given the site change due to underground infrastructure issues.
He told the meeting the council’s original concept plans did not involve engineering or geotechnical analysis.
The 2023 Precious Family Reserve concept plan, including an unconfirmed toilet location. Image / Western Bay of Plenty District Council
Watson said, however, a footnote on a decision report following a review of the concept plan stated the location may be subject to underground services or stormwater issues.
In response to residents’ concerns about communication, he said the council “went above” the required level of service by carrying out a consultation.
He said it followed due process with the petition.
The council discussed options for the toilet facility remaining in place, being relocated, or being removed from the reserve.
A new motion, however, was put forward by councillor Rodney Joyce to carry out a new round of consultation in Ōmokoroa about options for the toilet.
Deputy Mayor Margaret Murray-Benge opposed the motion.
She requested the “dodgy old toilet” be removed.
“I’m really quite angry. The toilet has to go,” she said, having risen to her feet.
Joyce said it would be better to have the consultation first “and then decide, based on public opinion in Ōmokoroa”.
Councillors Joyce, Dally, Sole, Laura Rae, Tracey Coxhead, Shane Beech and Mayor James Denyer voted for the motion.
Councillors Murray-Benge, Darlene Dinsdale, and Graeme Elevin voted against it.
Bijou Johnson is a multimedia journalist based in Bay of Plenty. A passionate writer and reader, she grew up in Tauranga and developed a love for journalism while exploring various disciplines at university. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Classical Studies from Massey University.