Vandal-proof washroom back under consideration

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This article was published 24/08/2024 (650 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Brandon City Council is once again considering the purchase of a $300,000 vandal-proof washroom to be placed on Pacific Avenue.

The idea was first brought up at a city council meeting last December, though it had originally been proposed that vandal-proof washrooms be installed both on Pacific Avenue and at Princess Park.

Those washrooms are built by a company called Urben Blu, which is based out of Quebec and has had its models installed in communities like Kenora and Fort Francis, Ont.

At the December meeting, director of parks and recreation services Perry Roque said the current Princess Park bathrooms have been closed more than they’re open due to vandalism from users.

At Monday’s meeting, Roque said that as part of budget deliberations earlier this year, his department had been tasked with looking into other, potentially cheaper options than the vandal-proof washrooms.

That work determined that the cost of building a new standalone washroom would have been in the neighbourhood of $366,000 as well as any required cleaning and security services.

According to Roque, a vandal-proof washroom will have sensors that will be able to detect whether supplies like toilet paper are running low and whether someone is sleeping inside. It will also be self-cleaning.

Speaking about the need for public washrooms, Roque said he counted 23 downtown washrooms on a walk around downtown Brandon. Of those, 17 belonged to businesses that were experiencing similar challenges to those faced by the public washrooms.

On top of that, many of those businesses close by 6 p.m., leaving few options in the evening.

The proposal to place a vandal-proof washroom on Pacific Avenue, Roque said, comes from discussions the Community Wellness Collaborative had with downtown stakeholders.

Roque also explained that the city has changed its approach to how it operates the Princess Park bathrooms since that meeting last year.

“We have two washrooms there,” Roque said. “There’s still vandalism happening, but what we decided this summer was that one washroom would be open and the other would be left closed. When one gets vandalized, we can open up the other one right away and have a washroom available while we’re making repairs.”

As well, Roque said that Brandon’s police cadets have been maintaining a larger presence in downtown, which has helped inform people that the city is serious about security.

He presented council with three options: Build a conventional washroom at a cost of $366,000 for construction, $244,608 for security and $30,000 for cleaning; build one vandal-proof washroom in 2025 and another in 2026; or build a single vandal-proof washroom on Pacific Avenue this year at a cost of $300,000.

That final option was staff’s recommendation, with the Community Wellness Collaborative working with the city to provide support and supervision for the new facility. The $300,000 price tag is said to include the price of connecting it to the city’s water and sewer utilities.

“We definitely believe that whenever we can partner with our stakeholders and with our community, we’ll have greater success,” Roque said.

Coun. Greg Hildebrand (Ward 5) said he had a hard time accepting the cost of the vandal-proof washroom during budget deliberations and was still feeling similarly on Monday.

“That’s $900 a square foot to build a bathroom,” Hildebrand said. “You can build a house for this. This is an ATCO trailer, if I recall correctly, that’s a glorified washroom — and it’s supposed to be vandal-proof?”

In examining possible options, Roque said that city staff spoke with their counterparts in Fort Frances and Kenora, Ont., about how well their vandal-proof washrooms have worked. In Fort Frances, the washroom has been placed in a campground and apparently works quite well, Roque said.

Kenora, by comparison, uses its vandal-proof washroom for a similar purpose to Brandon’s.

“They located theirs in the downtown,” Roque said. “Because they’re such a large tourist town, they were putting it there because of the tourists. What they have discovered is that homeless people access that washroom an awful lot.”

City manager Ron Bowles, participating in his last regular council meeting before his resignation takes effect on Aug. 30, said he understands the sticker shock over the washroom.

“Through our procurement process, rest assured what we’ll be doing is getting lived experience,” Bowles said. “These are put in all over Canada. Many communities are having success with them. They’re spending a lot of money, like we are contemplating here tonight, but we are having success with them.”

Mayor Jeff Fawcett said he’d like council to be given more information before a final decision is reached. Roque said representatives from Urben Blu are willing to come out and make a presentation directly to council.

If purchased, Roque said the hope would be for the vandal-proof washroom to be installed next spring.

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