ELORA – More washrooms are coming to downtown Elora by the end of this year thanks to a local developer.
A new report says local developer Kat Florence Canada Company Limited has offered to pay for the design and construction of permanent washrooms in the space adjacent to the Tourism Information Centre at 10 East Mill St. to address the need for more public bathrooms in Elora.
Creating a "central mini parkette" for tourism centre visitors to enjoy, the company's current design concept proposes six trees for shade, lighting, seating, water bottle fill stations, a digital display and a minimum of four public, gender-neutral washrooms to be constructed.
This follows council directing staff to look at recovering the cost of installing temporary washrooms near the tourism centre last year.
"I think it's a great opportunity for our community and hopefully this process goes well and can satisfy a dire need in our community," said Mayor Shawn Watters, during the meeting.
While supportive of the proposed washrooms in Elora, Coun. Barb Evoy said she'd like to see a similar solution looked at in Fergus.
Clarifying that staff would be happy to discuss a similar solution in Fergus if they receive an offer, the township's managing director of community services Pat Newsom said the difference between public bathroom needs in Elora and Fergus is "tenfold" and the need is "definitely a priority right now in Elora."
In 2023, staff said over 90,000 entered the Elora Tourism Information Centre to use the public washrooms, with peak months like July and August reaching 15,256 and 18,930 visitors.
According to the report, the project budget is "undetermined" at this time and should the budget eclipse what Kat Florence reasonably expects for this project, even after optional design modifications to minimize costs are considered, the project could be terminated before any site work is initiated. Staff would inform council if this occurred.
To be owned and operated by the township, the annual operating cost to the township for cleaning and utilities for the space and washrooms is estimated at $25,000 per annum and is recommended to be allocated from General Reserves to this project to "ensure" the project can proceed as presented.
Staff said this will impact taxation by 0.13 per cent.
With the final design and budget confirmation expected around June 30, construction is anticipated to take place from July to October and the washrooms should be open in November.
The two washrooms in the Tourism Information Centre will also remain available to the public.
As the design and construction of the project are being fully funded by Kat Florence, using their design team and their constructors, no public tender process or public meeting is required. The proposal will be available for discussion at the Mayor's Open House on Thursday.
Isabel Buckmaster is the Local Journalism Initiative reporter for GuelphToday. LJI is a federally-funded program
