Cold Lake downtown public washroom plan deferred to 2024

City plans to put a public washroom downtown are stalled for the time being. 

City council decided to defer the decision to 2024 at Tuesday’s regular meeting. Initially put forward from the 2021 Budget, $200,000 was set aside and projected costs had come in about $90,000 total last year.

But increased vagrancy at downtown locations has put hesitation into the minds of councillors. 

“A couple years ago, our environment was a lot different downtown. So now with the vagrancy, we’re experiencing the homelessness,” said Mayor Craig Copeland.  

“Councils has a couple of initiatives, both on the compassion side supporting the John Howard, the homeless shelter. Plus, we’re on the enforcement side where we have an expectation and the RCMP and the bylaws are doing a great job.” 

After budget talks for the 2023 year, there was talk to cancel the project outright.  

The intention of building a public washroom was to address that there wasn’t any downtown that wasn’t located in a business, and was recommended by Cold Lake and District FCSS Advisory Committee and the Economic Development Advisory Committee. 

Despite the humming and hawing, administration continued work, and was at a “critical point” of whether to go ahead with development permits or halt work. 

With a motion made at Tuesday’s meeting, the decision is kicked down the road. 

On the vagrancy front, despite the opening of the John Howard Society’s new location and mat program, Copeland said city crews continue to take down tents and structures. 

“We just took down another five structures over the last two weeks that are getting built. 

“So when we see them, if anybody in the community sees them, we ask you to just phone City Hall and tell you where you’ve seen it.”