City tackling bathroom dearth with lighthouse

A Mississippi city is making a tourist attraction out of bathrooms on the beach by incorporating them into a

$1.9 million lighthouse with a roof-level viewing deck.

“We’re the only city on the coast that doesn’t have a bathroom facility on the beach,” Waveland, Mississippi, Mayor Mike Smith told the Sun Herald.

The Waveland lighthouse is for tourism rather than navigation, and officials say the deck will provide excellent water views.

“It will be an attraction for the city to draw people to Waveland beaches,” said Tish Williams, executive director of Hancock Chamber of Commerce. “The Waveland beaches are beautiful.”

Groundbreaking was held Friday for the project, which is under a 280-day contract, WLOX-TV reported.

Smith said he expects the new beach volleyball courts will be used much more once bathrooms are available.

Funding will come from Mississippi Tidelands funds paid primarily by waterfront casinos, Gomesa money from offshore oil rigs and a sea wall tax, which comes from a gasoline tax.