Lotta loot for loo?

  Monday, 03 June 2013 18:00 Ron Seymour Kelowna Daily Courier
It's not exactly a million-dollar biffy, but it's not a low-cost loo either.  Work is nearing completion on an $800,000 public washroom in City Park, with the first flushes expected by month's end.  "We're pushing the contractor to have it finished before the Canada Day long weekend," Kevin Van Vliet, the city's manager of utility and building projects, said Monday.  Opening of the washroom is running a few weeks behind schedule because of a problem with the brickwork supplied for the project. It was supposed to have a highly glazed, graffiti-resistant nature, but the original shipment didn't live up to expectations and had to be replaced.  Kelowna resident Don Laird has watched the washroom take shape recently, and was curious enough Monday to go to City Hall to learn its cost. He says he was outraged to learn of its $800,000 budget.  "That's ridiculous," Laird said. "You could build a huge new house for that amount. This kind of money for a public washroom should really upset people." However, Van Vliet said the cost of the project largely reflects the twin necessities of building a secure and attractive structure.  "It needs to look nice because it is in one of our premier, signature parks," Van Vliet said. "So it has a higher finishing and level of detail than you'd find on a public washroom at a trailhead in a remote area."  As well, various anti-crime and anti-vandalism features had to be incorporated into the design of the washroom because of its location in a busy public park that also attracts transients and some drug activity.  For example, Van Vliet said the base of the toilets are fastened to the wall rather than the floor behind non-full-length doors. This more costly fixture makes the washroom easier to clean, and also lets police and security guards see at a glance whether there is more than one person in a stall.  "Everything about the washroom has to be very durable," Van Vliet said. "It has to be a place people feel secure about using, and hopefully it'll be there for a long time."  The $800,000 budget includes not just the men's, women's and universally accessible washrooms, but also landscaping costs, irrigation upgrades and some electrical work.  An architect and design team selected by the city came up with the project's specifications, and put the project out to a competitive tendering process in January.  Most of the money comes from an insurance payout associated with the destruction by an unsolved arson attack in 2011 of a city-owned pavilion that used to occupy the same spot on the northern side of the park.