Keller City Council has given city staff the green light to move forward with plans for new public restrooms along Bates Street, shifting a project originally slated for fiscal year 2027-28 up to the current fiscal year. The tentative site sits next to Bates Street Park, and the city is eyeing a total project budget of $500,000 to $600,000.
Public Works Director Alonzo Liñán presented the option to accelerate the timeline, according to Community Impact. Bates Street Park itself opened in fall 2024 and sits adjacent to the Keller History Museum, featuring outdoor seating, a pavilion with a stage, open lawn areas and a climbing feature for young children. The restroom's tentative location is next to the park, though the outlet reports other sites remain possible if utility relocations are needed.
What the New Restrooms Would Include
The prefabricated structure alone is estimated to run between $475,000 and $535,000. The building would include two stalls each in the men's and women's restrooms, plus two family and ADA-accessible restrooms, each equipped with a baby-changing station, per the same report.
City staff also floated a handful of extras: a shade structure, a drinking fountain alcove and the possibility of a public-art mural on one wall. Those additions carry an estimated cost of $41,000 to $51,000, according to the presentation described by Community Impact.
Skipping the Bid Process
Rather than soliciting competitive bids, Keller plans to use the BuyBoard Purchasing Cooperative to select a vetted vendor, the outlet reports. City Manager Aaron Rector said the first step would be posting a notice for a budget amendment, after which council would still need to approve the contract to purchase the restroom facility itself.
Once a prefabricated unit is delivered, it would reportedly take six to eight months to be fully finished, and it would become installed and operational the same day it arrives. Council member Greg Will said he favored locking in current prices rather than waiting and risking next year's higher costs, according to the same account.
Weighing Trade-offs With Other Park Projects
Options presented to council included either a straight budget amendment or reprioritizing existing fiscal year 2026-27 capital improvement projects. One idea floated was delaying playground equipment at Johnson Road Park, a project described as having a similar cost to the restroom build, but council reached consensus to keep the Johnson Road Park project on its current timeframe, per Community Impact's reporting.
The Bates Street project follows other recent restroom decisions in the city's parks system. At a December 2, 2025, meeting, council supported a four-stall restroom layout for Keller Sports Park after debating options ranging from two to eight stalls, a choice staff said would save roughly $100,000 in the Keller Development Corporation fund balance, according to city council meeting materials. The city also budgeted $150,000 for restroom renovations at Johnson Road Park for fiscal year 2026-27, and an earlier 2027-28 project plan had listed a $625,000 Bates Park restroom replacement as its largest line item.
Timeline Tied to Road Work, Conflicting Dates Cited
City officials have linked the restroom's opening to nearby road construction. Community Impact reported that the facility is planned to become operational closer to the conclusion of Elm Street road construction, which the outlet said is expected to finish at the end of 2027. The City of Keller's project page, however, states that the South Elm Street Reconstruction Project, which began March 24, 2025, is anticipated to conclude in the summer of 2028 — a discrepancy the available records do not resolve. A ribbon-cutting ceremony for the restrooms is planned for spring 2028, per Community Impact.
Cost estimates for the broader South Elm Street project also vary between sources. A separate Community Impact report described the reconstruction as a $21.9 million project, while the city's own project page puts the total cost of this project phase at $30.7 million, including $7.59 million from Tarrant County transportation bond programs. Tarrant County commissioners approved an interlocal agreement in June providing Keller an additional $1.84 million toward the work, according to Community Impact's earlier coverage.
How the Purchase Would Work
Using a cooperative purchasing agreement like BuyBoard means Keller would not have to go out for competitive bids on the restroom structure. The City of Keller says such agreements allow it to order goods and services from annual contracts already established by other governmental agencies. For now, the next steps rest with staff posting the budget amendment notice, followed by a council vote on the actual purchase contract before any ground is broken.
