Construction crews are about to break ground on a permanent, ADA-compliant restroom at Sartell's Lions Community Park, replacing the single portable toilet that has served the park's popular all-inclusive playground since it opened. The City of Sartell's Parks and Recreation Department announced that work will begin soon, and asked the public to stay out of the construction zone while crews are on site.
The six-acre park sits on Pinecone Road North across from Sartell City Hall, with the Watab River running through it, according to KNSI. The new facility will include two single-stall restrooms, one of which will be fully compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act. City Administrator Anna Gruber has also noted that future fundraising for the accessible restroom, and for additional parking, could still follow.
The restroom push began as a fundraising campaign launched by the Sartell, LeSauk Township, and St. Stephen Lions clubs in 2025, and was formally kicked off at the Sartell Bike Rodeo held at the park in March of that year. LeSauk Township contributed $30,000 to the Phase II effort that May. Neither the total construction cost nor a completion date for the restroom building has been released, according to the same report.
Adult Changing Table Fills a Design Gap
The push for accessibility got a boost in April, when the Team Sheehan Charitable Foundation awarded a $3,000 grant to the Sartell Lions Club to help add an adult changing table to the planned restroom, according to the Lions District 5M8 Newsletter. Standard ADA park restrooms often skip adult-sized changing tables, even though disability advocates have pushed for them for years. Adding one means the facility can serve older children and adults with complex mobility needs, not just meet baseline stall-dimension requirements.
Under the Minnesota State Building Code and 2017 ICC A117.1 standards, public single-user accessible restrooms must include a minimum 60-inch diameter clear turning space, specific wall-mounted grab bars, and regulated fixture clearances, per the Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Those requirements shape exactly what the new Lions Park facility must deliver once construction wraps up.
Building on the Playground's Legacy
The restroom project follows in the footsteps of the park's Phase I transformation: an all-inclusive playground that opened in September 2023 after growing out of conversations area parents held back in 2022. Those parents had described how traditional playground surfaces made it difficult for children using wheelchairs or those who crawl to get around, which shaped the design of what came next. The Sartell City Council approved the project, and it now features ramps, decks, interactive play panels, two zip lines, and a wheelchair-accessible merry-go-round spread across more than 6,000 square feet of rubberized surface — including blue sections meant to represent the Watab River itself.
That playground carried a total price tag of $400,000, according to Lions of District 5M8. Area Lions clubs raised $340,000 of that sum, while the City of Sartell contributed $60,000 directly, with the council having endorsed the project structure and pledged municipal funds in October 2022. Of the amount raised by civic groups, $100,000 came from a Lions Clubs International Foundation matching grant, $42,000 was raised internally by the three host clubs, $13,000 came from nine other District 5M8 clubs, and the remaining $240,000 came from local community donations.
Part of a Broader Push for Accessible Public Spaces
The demand for accessible infrastructure tracks with Sartell's demographics. U.S. Census Bureau estimates from 2020 to 2024 put the city's population at approximately 19,758, with 15.1% of residents aged 65 or older — a group in which nearly 38.9% report having a disability, according to an analysis from MedicalRide. Central Minnesota's senior population has grown steadily, adding pressure on municipalities to modernize aging park amenities.
Sartell's efforts also fit a wider regional trend. Central Minnesota school districts and municipalities have increasingly built all-inclusive play areas in recent years, including adaptive playgrounds at regional schools with poured-in-place rubberized surfacing designed to eliminate barriers that traditional wood-chip and sand surfaces pose for wheelchair users. Lions Community Park is one of more than 25 municipal parks and natural spaces the city maintains across over 200 acres, ranging from neighborhood sites like this one to regional hubs such as Pinecone Central Park.
The park operates daily from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. or dusk, and its open-air arbor is available for private rental at $25 an hour for Sartell residents and $50 an hour for non-residents. The restroom project also arrives as Sartell advances other riverfront investments under Gruber, including a multi-use trail and public boat docks planned as part of the Mill District redevelopment along the Mississippi River in mid-2026, as reported by WJON.
