Tetty Hoffner has to plan trips for her 5- and 8-year-old sons to nearby Estella Neighborhood Park between their bathroom breaks. The 2-acre park on Erbes Road with tennis and basketball courts has been without a functioning restroom since Jan. 22, when someone set fire to the brick structure.

“I think (toilets) are necessary, especially when I (see) families using the park as a gathering place,” said Hoffner, who was at the park last Friday with her friend Isabella Marquez and her children.

“I don’t like it (without) bathrooms,” Marquez said. “I have girls; they need a restroom.”

Relief is on the way for Hoffner and other residents who visit the park.

Last week, the Conejo Recreation and Park District board of directors approved the purchase and installation of a new unisex restroom, a project estimated to cost $115,000.

CRPD agreed to waive the usual bidding procedure, which can take up to eight months to complete.

“We are trying to move quickly,” park superintendent Matt Kouba said.

The district plans to purchase the prefabricated building this month and hire local contractors to prepare the space for the facility.

The installation could take place as soon as April, but CRPD is waiting for the insurance company to pay the claim on the old building—a burned-out shell still sits on the property—before ordering the prefabricated restroom and having trenches dug for new water and sewer lines, Kouba said.

Jim Friedl, park district general manager, said it was probably cheaper to replace the restroom than to rebuild the 500-square-foot brick building from the ground up.

Regardless, a new building was in order, he said.

“We’re actually getting the facility that we want and we think is more appropriate there,” Friedl said.

As a security measure, the new restroom will be closer to the parking lot, although its exact location has yet to be determined, he said. The intent is for the building to be easily seen by passing police patrols, Friedl said.

Kouba said vandals will have one less place to hide.

“Any time we put an amenity like that deep in the park it tends to get vandalized,” he said.

For added safety, the backside of the building will be inaccessible, the park superintendent said.

Named after Estella Erbes, a familiar family name in T.O., Estella Neighborhood Park was formerly owned by the county and staffed by an employee who for years loaned out play equipment.

Estella was the first park to join CRPD, according to Friedl.

Capt. Bill Ayub of the Thousand Oaks Police Department said the act of arson that destroyed the previous restroom is still under investigation.

No suspects have been identified, he said.

He asked that anyone with information about the fire call Crime Stoppers at (800) 222-8477 or send an email to TOPD at police@toaks.org. Anonymous tips are accepted.