West Grey is applying for some grant funding for a public washroom upgrade at Durham Town Hall Park.
Council approved applying to the Ministry of Sport’s Community Sport and Recreation Infrastructure Fund to cover half of the $280,000 project during a meeting on Sept. 17.
Corporate and Community Initiatives Officer Kodey Hewlett says this comes as the park has seen significant investment from the community with the installation of a 3,000 square foot splashpad, pavilion and full park redesign as part of the town’s 150th anniversary.
The proposed installation would include a fully autonomous and accessible bathroom as well as change area, which will be available year-round.
CAO Michele Harris says, “the advantage of these if that after someone utilizes them they shut down, self clean for 45 seconds and you could also program in things like cleaning the floors after every 10 or 15 uses. They do present a lot of opportunities to monitor them. If the facility needs attendance, need toilet paper or soaps, it notifies, there is an automatic notification.”
Concerns were raised about how the municipality will pay for its portion of the project and Coun. Doug Townsend proposed looking for outside support.
“It seems to be a lot of money. We are putting a lot of funding into Durham and a lot of things are happening in Durham, but we also have Neustadt, Ayton and Elmwood too. Durham is just a part of West Grey and we need to look after the other parts of West Grey also, we need to spread the money around and share the wealth. I am just wondering if funding could be put in place through other community groups to come up with that $140,000. I don’t know that it should be more on the tax payer’s head,” says Townsend.
Harris says Hewlett plans to talk to community groups about raising funds.