The Dunedin City Council has decided to investigate the construction of a new 24-hour "user pays" toilet facility in the Octagon, but any new loo is likely to be at least a year away.
The council's public toilet working party recommended the facility be considered as part of plans for an overall improvement in the city's toilet facilities, following public feedback indicating demand for such a development.
However, council policy analyst team leader Mike Roesler said the next significant step would come in January, when staff reported on what resources - funding and staff time - were needed to plan for an Octagon facility.
The level of funding and other resources required would depend largely on how the placement of a new toilet in the Octagon - a protected reserve - needed to be considered, he said.
Building restrictions in place for the Octagon would need to be revisited, having already forced the removal of a stage in the lower Octagon in 2002, after it was found to be an illegal structure, he said.
Construction costs for any toilet could range "hugely" from $60,000 to $1 million, depending of the type of facility and amount of planning required.
The budget would be subject to approval by councillors, and any construction would be "at least" a year away, he said.
"The Octagon is too important an area to get it wrong, and there's a danger at looking at one service in isolation.
"You have got to be very careful about what you want to achieve in that area," he said.
The only public toilets near the Octagon - in the Municipal Chambers - closed at 8.30pm on weekdays, and earlier at weekends.
Underground toilets were built in the Octagon about 1910, and modernised in the 1960s, but were filled in with rubble during a redevelopment of the Octagon in 1989.
The working party's report also recommended expanding or refurbishing the city's other toilet facilities, along with the replacement of older Exeloos, and building new toilets in South and North Dunedin, Mosgiel, Kaikorai Valley, Northeast Valley, Market Reserve, the Mornington retail area and Ocean View.
