You asked if (1) gas stations that sell foodstuff must have public restrooms (2) they must have separate facilities for men and women and (3) neighboring states requirements are the same as Connecticut's.

Under applicable building and plumbing codes, a service station is classified in the mercantile use group that must provide public restrooms (International Plumbing Code § 403.6, and 2003 International Building Code Portion of the 2005 State Building Code § 2902.6). The requirement applies to new buildings for which a building permit was applied for on or after May 1, 1999, when the 1997 plumbing code took effect. The codes require separate facilities for men and women in buildings in the mercantile use group if the occupant load (building capacity) is 50 or more. Most gas stations would probably fall below this threshold and would therefore need only one unisex handicapped accessible public toilet facility, according to Daniel Tierney, deputy state building inspector.

The International Code Council (ICC), which publishes the International Building Code (one of the codes stipulating the bathroom requirements) reports that 47 states and Washington D.C. have adopted the code (www.iccsafe.org/ government/adoption.html). These include the following neighboring states: Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont. But states may amend or delete ICC code provisions to accommodate their specific circumstances, and we do not know which of these states, if any, have adopted, amended, or deleted the model code's bathroom provisions.

VR:ro