Stratford council has agreed to provide an additional nearly $200,000 to help Destination Stratford pay for the planned overhaul of the boathouse public washrooms on York Street.
A federal grant of nearly $300,000 won’t be enough to cover the planned overhaul of Stratford’s boathouse public washrooms, leading Stratford council to approve almost $200,000 more for the project Monday evening.
At Monday’s meeting, Destination Stratford executive director Zac Gribble told council the project to gut the old tourism kiosk at the boathouse on York Street, allowing for the modernization and expansion of the public washrooms there, is now expected to cost a total of $476,000, leaving a funding gap of $182,500.
“It was well over a year ago when this idea started,” Gribble said. “In place of a secondary tourism kiosk at the boathouse, let’s instead expand that space from an outdated, undersized and seasonal facility into a modernized, fully accessible, year-round space with double the number of stalls. At that point, no one, including city staff we worked with, anticipated the substantial cost increases for infrastructure projects due to supply chain issues, staffing shortages and rampant inflation.
“It also became clear we’d have to make several upgrades to protect the long-term investment and community impact of the project. Just one example would be upgrading the toilets from ceramic to stainless steel so they are less likely to be damaged or vandalized.”
According to a staff report, the boathouse building is owned by the city and was built in 1981. Since that time, there has been no significant investment made into the building.
As the building is sorely in need of an update, the project being spearheaded by Destination Stratford, the city’s tourism agency, would also serve to extend the boathouse’s useful life.
In total, Gribble asked council to consider funding the project with an additional $198,925 – $182,500 to pay the remaining costs beyond what will be covered by the $293,500 federal grant, plus a small construction contingency.
Since this project wasn’t part of the 2022 budget, the money will come out of Stratford’s tax levy stabilization reserve, funds set aside every year to blunt the impact of future tax-levy increases on taxpayers.
While councilors Danielle Ingram and Cody Sebben suggested it might be beneficial to have staff issue a new request for proposals to try to find a contractor at a lower cost, Gribble noted earlier in the meeting the project must be completed by December per the federal funding agreement .
“We’ve got a small window in order to meet the funding requirements. … That needs to be completed by December, which is very tight. We also have the tenant who runs the boat rental and boathouse restaurant, so we can’t actually start until near the beginning or middle of October. If the RFP or tendering process would go through the traditional city (process), it’s not clear to me that we could … get this project done in time,” Gribble said.
While Ingram, Sebben and Coun. Kathy Vassilakos voted against providing the extra funding without first re-tendering the project, the majority supported Gribble’s request.
“Even before I became a councilor some eight years ago, I heard a lot of concerns from merchants on York Street … about the lack of washroom space for tourists and citizens alike,” Coun. Graham Bunting said in support of the project.