Finding a loo downtown will be a bit easier with a new public washroom.
The city has installed the new washroom, called the “Urbaloo”, on the corner of 6th and England Avenue that will be open Friday.
The city says the facility will be cleaned 7 days a week “from dawn to dusk” and will be cleaned daily. The washroom, built in B.C., was designed to be easy to clean and be vandalism resistant.
The washroom will also include a water bottle filler in the new year and has the infrastructure to install EV charging stations in the future.
Courtenay Mayor Bob Wells says the washroom was strongly recommended and was influenced by the pandemic.
“Public washrooms like this one have been installed in a number of other cities in B.C. and elsewhere,” said Wells. “We heard loud and clear that there was a shortage of available public washrooms in the downtown core, and this was exacerbated by COVID which limited access to many private facilities that people may have previously been accustomed to using.”
He adds the new washroom offers a service in a small footprint at a convenient location.
Courtenay says the location was decided after looking at pedestrian traffic, parking, and shopping amenities among others.
Council will be looking to increase the hours of operation in the new year.
