Gov. Gavin Newsom is threatening to cancel a San Francisco toilet that could cost $1.7 million and take more than two years to build

• Gov. Gavin Newsom is threatening to halt plans for a $1.7 million toilet in San Francisco.
• The toilet received backlash, and demands to explain the cost and two-year construction timeline.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom is threatening to halt plans to build a public toilet in San Francisco after it received huge backlash over its $1.7 million cost and 2-year construction time.

Newsom's office told the San Francisco Chronicle Friday that it would intervene to halt funding for a public toilet in Noe Valley Town Square if a cheaper, more efficient means of production couldn't be realized.

"A single, small bathroom should not cost $1.7 million," Erin Mellon, the governor's communications director, told the Chronicle in a statement. "The state will hold funding until San Francisco delivers a plan to use this public money more efficiently. If they cannot, we will go back to the legislature to revoke this appropriation."

The Chronicle first reported Wednesday that Assembly Member Matt Haney had secured $1.7 million in funding for a public toilet in the plaza, after hearing "loud and clear" from the community that families needed a bathroom. Haney was advised on the cost by the city's Recreation and Parks Department.

The toilet is required to go through a lengthy planning process before it can be installed, pushing completion as far back as 2025, the Chronicle reported.

This includes an architect drawing up plans for the city which receive feedback and a "multi-phase review" by five commissioners, before going to the Rec and Park Commission and the board of supervisors. It would then be reviewed under the California Environmental Quality Act, before finally being put to a bidding process.

The project has inspired a wave of condemnation and calls to explain how the toilet could cost so much, even in a city where it's more expensive to build things than anywhere else in the world.

"This is to build one public restroom? What are they making it out of — gold and fine Italian marble? It would be comical if it wasn't so tragically flawed," Tom Hardiman, executive director of the Modular Building Institute in Charlottesville, told the Chronicle Wednesday.

A joint statement from Rec and Park and the Department of Public Works defended the costs, which in addition to materials expenses, included planning, drawing, permits, reviews and public outreach.

But following the report by the Chronicle, Haney canceled a celebratory press conference for the toilet, and informed the paper he had gone back to the Rec and Park department for further explanation of the cost.

"When Rec and Park first told us the number, it sounded shockingly high to me, and I think your article has revealed that their process around this is broken and the number is inexplicable," Haney told the paper.