ISU students no longer have to buy something in a restaurant or wait until they get home to use the restrooms after spending time in Campustown, due to the City Council’s sponsoring of public restrooms in the area.

On Aug. 28, the City Council approved a payment of $333 per month to Campustown Property Management to open restroom facilities in two commonly visited areas: 303 Welch Ave., in the commons area next to Stomping Grounds, and 200 Stanton Ave., in Cyclone Plaza.

The restrooms, set to open within the next month, will be open from 8 a.m. to 2:30 a.m., seven days a week to the ISU community.

These locations were considered ideal because they receive a great deal of traffic, making them easily available to students, they also have separate entrances from the businesses to ensure effective traffic flow.

Ideas for this project began last year when the City Council referred the idea of having public restrooms in Campustown to the Student Affairs Commission. At that time, the SAC looked into a number of possibilities, including providing portable toilets and building some free-standing structures. However, those possibilities proved to be either very unpleasant or very expensive.

“We try to recognize that these are college students and we want things to be as comfortable as possible for them . I feel really good about this idea,” said Jen Sanford, office manager for Campustown Property Management.

In addition to Campustown Property Management supervising the continued upkeep of these restrooms and being paid the stipend, they also have the ability to discontinue this project if they feel the amount of money received is not worth the effort of the upkeep.

The new restrooms will also address complaints from students who were denied access to restrooms if they were not paying patrons. Susan Gwiasda, public relations officer of the city of Ames, described this project as an “identified need” and said “it would be an advantage for students.”

“We have had complaints in the past,” Gwiasda said, “[We] are trying to be progressive in responding to requests.” The city of Ames plans on using advertising mediums throughout Ames, such as cable TV and flyers posted around the area, as well as media throughout the ISU community such as newspapers, banners and e-mails to spread the word.

Although this project carries a great deal of positive aspects, there are mixed feelings on development among ISU students.

“Hopefully this will help cut down on unpleasantness in Campustown and make it a nicer place to visit. We think it’s a win for the community, it’s definitely a win for the property management company, and it’s a win for students”, said GSB President Brian Phillips, senior in political science.

“I kind of feel like it’s a good thing, I feel it shows good will towards students,” said Ming-Yee Li, junior in graphic design. “I am just worried the students won’t reciprocate in the appropriate manner.”