Victoria moves forward with $14M, 7-year plan to upgrade washrooms

Victoria city council is moving forward with a plan to upgrade all public washrooms in its parks.

It's a project that will cost $14 million and will see 18 bathrooms modernized and made more accessible, according to the city.

More than half of the public washrooms located in Victoria are more than 50 years old and have never been upgraded.

Many are rundown, and some aren't accessible for folks with mobility issues.

The multi-million dollar upgrades will renovate the bathrooms entirely, from plumbing to electrical components.

"We have a lot of work to do to improve our accessibility in our parks and recreation around the city, and this is just one piece of that," said Victoria coun. Matt Dell.

Despite the price tag, some disability advocates say the plan doesn't go far enough.

"They're looking at doing the basic minimum under the building code," said disability advocate Dave Willows.

Willows has a nine-year-old son named Nick who has cerebral palsy.

Nick wears diapers and needs adult changing tables – and ideally a ceiling hoist – in washrooms.

The plan recommended by city staff, and that was endorsed by council on Thursday, doesn’t support those items in park washrooms.

The plan says that equipment could be dangerous if it's unsupervised and can become targets for vandals.

Without the equipment, however, Nick and his family won't be able to rely on the new "accessible" washrooms.

"So that still leaves the parks throughout the community inaccessible to many people who can't use a regular toilet," said Willows.

Council is expected to ratify the decision at a council meeting on Feb. 2. If it's ratified at that meeting then the washroom upgrades are scheduled to take place across the city over the next seven years.