MAPLETON – Township council has approved the donation of $17,000 to the Drayton Rotary Club for the completion of an accessible washroom in ABC Park.
Through the municipality’s 50/50 funding program the township agreed to donate $5,000 for the construction of the washroom.
On May 14 council approved donating a further $12,000 to provide hook ups for sewer and hydro. The additional $12,000 will be drawn from the township’s capital reserves.
“We would like to go forward and ask council to put the sewer in and help with the water hydro trenching and hookup for the wheelchair accessible washroom which we are planning to be installing in ABC park,” explained Rotary Club member Christian Giffin.
The accessible washroom will be a 12-by-12-foot building with one toilet, a fold down change table, a sink and a sensor light.
“All the walls will be washable for any possible graffiti, also the back part of the building will be used for connections, etcetera,” said Giffin. She added the washroom could also have a urinal.
In total the approximate cost of the building will be $22,030.
Giffin’s delegation came just as staff received a quote for the sewer/hydro work.
“Yes, we received a quote this afternoon. Previous estimates were just best guesses but we did receive a quote this afternoon,” said director of public works Sam Mattina.
“For the sanitary to the street and to connect the water and hydro from the existing utility building that is there for the splash pad now, we are looking at about $12,000.”
Finance director John Morrison confirmed the township could provide $12,000 through capital reserves.
“For the balance you would just draw down the capital that we have established,” said Morrison. “The money is there.”
The remainder of the approximate $22,030 will be raised through Rotary Club fundraisers.
The Drayton Rotary Club hopes to have the accessible washroom finished sometime this summer.
“We would like to get it done. This summer is our goal,” said Giffin.
“We are working as hard as we can to get to there. We have some delayed fundraisers which we had planned which may throw us off our goal a little bit. We have a good part of [the funds] but not all of it. We have about two-thirds.”
Councillor Marlene Ottens said, “I am in favour of this. I think it’s a valuable project that is needed.”
