Overnight bathroom flushed after costly first year

Courtenay council agreed the downtown Urbaloo washroom should not stay open overnight.

The decision came after reviewing a pilot project from last year, which saw the Urbaloo public washroom stay open 24 hours each day. The pilot resulted in 鈥渟ignificant vandalism and damage, extended 鈥榣ock-ins,鈥� and significant safety risks to the public and staff,鈥� according to an incident report.

Council heard that the Urbaloo washroom recorded 151 overnight lock-ins, defined as someone refusing to open the door after being inside for an hour. The facility also had 46 cases of vandalism, nearly seven times more than any other public washroom.

As a result, the Urbaloo closed for repairs for 112 days between March and December, and another 67 days after the pilot ended, to prepare for public use again, according to the report.

鈥淯nfortunately, the pilot has demonstrated that the overnight access resulted in reduced overall access to the public washroom through service disruptions and operational closures,鈥� the report states.

The bathroom with a cleaning and staffing budget of $24,000 annually would reportedly see operation costs rise to between $185,000 and $240,000 annually if overnight service returned.

Pride parade planned

Courtenay council has approved the city鈥檚 first Pride parade.

Council voted unanimously on Wednesday (May 31) to close 5th Street, including the downtown bridge, for more than two hours on Saturday, Aug. 26.

The Pride parade is scheduled to begin on Harmston Avenue, walk eastbound down 5th Street, continue across the bridge, and end in Simms Millennium Park.

The event is scheduled from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. It is being organized by Queer Culture, a Courtenay event planner.

Multiple other events are in the planning process for the Aug. 26 weekend.

鈥淭here will be a parade, a festival in Simms Park, and other events taking place the weekend of Aug. 26,鈥� said a spokesperson for Comox Valley Pride. 鈥淚t鈥檚 true that June is celebrated as Pride Month in many places, but in recent years a lot of groups have moved to July or August in order to avoid scheduling conflicts with others. We鈥檒l be posting our local events closer to that weekend.鈥�