Pictured is a completed bathroom facility that the DEC say the new Lake Flower restroom will look like when finished next year. (Enterprise photo — Kevin Shea)

SARANAC LAKE — After Winter Carnival ends and the Ice Palace starts to come down, the state Department of Environmental Conservation will begin constructing an accessible full-service bathroom at the Lake Flower Boat Launch starting Monday.

In a press release, DEC Regional Director Bob Stegemann said, “We are pleased to provide this final touch to improvements at DEC’s Lake Flower Boat Launch. The restroom will benefit boaters using the boat launch and the water quality of waterbodies accessed from the boat launch.”

In an email statement, DEC spokesperson Dave Winchell said, “A full bathroom is being built at this boat launch due to the availability of municipal water and sewer, the location in the center of the village, the amount of use the boat launch receives and requests from local officials.”

The restroom will be built in the western corner of the boat launch property near the sidewalk along River Street and is expected to be ready for use by mid-June. The DEC will connect the restroom to the municipal water and sewer supplies. The facility, with restrooms for both men and women, will have four toilets, two sinks and air hand dryers. The project is expected to cost $450,000.

Winchell said a maintenance schedule has not been determined, but the bathrooms would receive regular cleaning.

Right now, Lake Flower just has portable toilets. Winchell said there are a few other boat launches that have bathrooms, but most use portable toilets.

Due to safety concerns resulting from the operation of heavy equipment and storage of construction materials, the boat launch will be closed to public use beginning Monday and will remain closed during construction.

Boaters will need to use the Second Pond Boat Launch and the Lower Lock to access Kiwassa Lake, Oseetah Lake, Lake Flower and portions of the Saranac River between when the ice is off the water and completion of the project.

In the past, the public has expressed the need for updated restrooms at the boat launch.

In a 2017 editorial, Joe Spadaro wrote, “Previously I have reached out to our representatives in the Senate, Assembly and local government on the deplorable condition of the ‘restroom facilities’ at the Lake Flower boat launch site in Saranac Lake.”