Cold Lake City Council has cancelled the Downtown Public Washroom project during the regular meeting held on February 14.
Council will reconsider the initiative during the 2024 budget deliberations and will free up the money that was set aside for this project.
The project was originally approved by Council in 2021 after being recommended by the
Cold Lake and District FCSS Advisory Committee and the Economic Development Advisory Committee. The project was approved with the intent to provide convenient public washrooms in the downtown core.
The project has been postponed twice with talks over the placement, concerns raised by the downtown business community, and administration researching appropriate solutions for public washrooms.
Cold Lake Mayor Craig Copeland says the city has a lot of projects on the go and the council felt that having this money parked did not make sense, given the inflation we are seeing and the low chance that the project would be completed this year.
“Council has heard some concerns relating to increased vagrancy around the location and the possibility for vandalism, but we’ve also heard about the need for a public washroom when events are happening. Given the projects we have on our plate and the inflation we are seeing, we voted to free up the money for other uses and revisit this project when we discuss 2024 capital projects.”
Administration advised that the probability of the washrooms being completed this year within the current budget was unlikely.