Minneapolis was abuzz in December when former City Council member Katie Cashman successfully pushed for a $700,000 amendment to the city’s budget for the construction of new public restrooms on Nicollet Avenue.

Discussion centered in part on a report showing that downtown Minneapolis had only six public restrooms available 24 hours a day and another 30 open during business hours. While that might sound low, Minneapolis actually ranks sixth among American cities for the most public toilets per 100,000 residents.

But it’s apparently not enough, given that the city’s report noted seven “public urination hotspots.” So everyone seemed excited about the opportunity to address the lack, which has plagued not only your average Minneapolitan but also Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist/“The Wild Thornberrys” voice actor Flea.

But now, the city says those plans are on hold, meaning you also may need to hold it when you’re downtown and looking for relief.

Related: Where are the public restrooms in downtown Minneapolis?

Kathleen Mayell, the city’s director of transportation planning and programming, told Council members at their Aug. 20 Climate and Infrastructure Committee meeting that the delay was largely due to the very limited number of vendors who create public restrooms that fit the city’s requirements.

Those include being moveable from site to site, not relying on the cities’ utilities, having self-cleaning technology and safety features and – obviously – handling brutally cold weather.

Some of the possibilities raised by the report include The Portland Loo, a concept designed by the City of Portland, or Throne, a “smart, accessible restroom” currently operating in 11 cities around the United States.

But, Mayell said, procurement had been a challenge – not least because the five to eight units the city was planning to fund doesn’t create enough of a “target market” for a vendor to enter into. 

Rather than call off the effort, Mayell said the city is working to identify potential partner agencies that might also be interested in public restrooms.

From the Council perspective, the update led to a vote to move that $700,000 from the city’s general fund back to its original home, the Streetcar Value Capture Fund – a purely technical decision, said Public Works Director Tim Sexton, to ensure that the money remained available for toilets and wasn’t subsumed into the general fund.

“As long as we’re still going to work on those public restrooms, that’s amazing,” said Council member Aurin Chowdhury (Ward 12).

Tovah Domenick is the regional executive director of the Minnesota/Dakotas chapter of the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation. The gastrointestinal conditions impact about 1% of Americans, often requiring them to have quick access to a restroom. It’s “great that it’s not being canceled,” he told MinnPost, adding that the presence of a restroom is “a huge determining factor” for where people with GI conditions spend their time.

The Council officially voted to move the funding at their Aug. 27 meeting, with Chowdhury making clear she was still hearing from constituents about how much they want to see the plan happen.

“It’s a multigenerational issue,” she said, “and it’s something both families and seniors have cited in terms of making our public spaces and our corridors more accessible.”

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