City Council makes decision

Council addresses downtown washroom access

May 27, 2019 | 10:25 PM

PRINCE GEORGE — Prince George City Council made a move towards addressing the issue of public access to downtown washrooms at its bi-monthly meeting tonight (May 27).

Council voted unanimously to enhance access to washrooms located in selected downtown service provider locations by providing funding to enable dedicated monitoring services.

Recommended sites, as chosen by City staff, include St. Vincent de Paul, Positive Living North and AWAC.

A City report says the anticipated cost is $36,000 which represents one time grants of $12,000 per organization to pay for increased monitoring services, while at the same time building community capacity to provide trained and experienced peers to provide attendant services at other locations.

The report examined the experience of other North American cities that have opened public bathrooms to address challenges associated with providing clean, safe, and timely washroom access for everyone.

It found that in some cities, like Vancouver, that the cost of maintaining public toilets in city parks is growing. It also found that opening public washrooms still had a hard time addressing complex health and social issues.

Moving forward, City staff will examine the option more closely and get back to council to confirm the cost of the project and to provide a timeline moving forward.”

Click here to report an error or typo in this article