Toilet talk: City staff not recommending a new washroom at Linear Park

Oct 28, 2019 | 6:00 AM

Vernon city council is set to deliberate on the installation of new public washrooms at their council meeting Monday, but it appears those hoping for a washroom at Linear Park may be out of luck if council sides with city staff.

A total of $365,000 has been approved in the 2019 financial plan to fund two public washrooms, but budget savings combined with reserve funding can now allow for a third washroom.

Staff have provided council two options to choose from. Option one would fund the newly opened 30 Avenue washroom as well as two washrooms at the transit terminus at 3007 31 Avenue. A total of $25,000 would need to come out of the Casino Reserve Fund–a cut of revenue the city receives from the Lake City Casino to finance the third washroom at the transit station.

The second option, would fund a washroom at Linear Park, a washroom at the transit station and the newly opened facility on 30 Avenue. A total of $40,000 would need to come out of the Casino Reserve Fund to pay for the washroom facility at Linear Park.

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The cost of installing one washroom at Linear Park is earmarked at $155,000 which is $15,000 more than the $140,000 cost for one washroom at the transit station. Staff said the increase in cost for the Linear Park location is due to a jump in service cost for water, sewer, and electrical work as well as the cost in landscaping and creating a pedestrian connection.

I can confirm the new downtown washroom is open and it flushes just fine…for now. Council is set to deliberate on new washroom sites-including one at Linear park on Monday #vernonbc pic.twitter.com/9xZX4NGu8S

— Tiffany Goodwein (@misstiff_94) October 28, 2019

Annual maintenance and operating costs would also be higher with an additional $36,500 that would need to be considered in the annual budget to service the three washroom sites.

The $155,000 price tag for the Linear Park washroom also does not take into account the cost of bylaw or RCMP.

The increased cost coupled with unknown bylaw and RCMP expenses has led city staff to oppose a washroom at Linear Park.

At last council meeting on Oct. 15, city council voted 4-3 against re-installing one of the two porta potties at the People Place after learning a service delivery driver was threatened with needles.

According to city staff, the contractor pulled the plug on servicing the toilets and removed them because of employee safety concerns.

According to Elaine Collison of The People Place, the absence of the toilets at Linear Park has led to public defecation and an increase in the street entrenched using the People Place washrooms.

“We spend a great deal of time everyday outside cleaning up in order to maintain a welcome environment. The porta potties were a great help to this end. We know that the new outdoor facilities are in operation downtown, however most of the folks on Linear Park are not going to walk that distance – they will simply come into People Place, and if we refuse to let them use our facilities, they will go outside,” Collison said.

Council is set to deliberate on the new washroom sites at their 1:30 p.m. council meeting on Oct. 28.

by Tiffany Goodwein

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