Days at Westwood Lake and Maffeo Sutton Park will be a little more enjoyable soon with plans for enhanced washroom buildings funded this week. (File Photo/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By Alex Rawnsley

funding injection

Over $10 million allocated to quartet of Nanaimo community projects

Oct 21, 2023 | 8:13 AM

NANAIMO — It’s a sizeable injection of funds for projects long demanded by the public.

City Councillors formally allocated just over $10.6 million from the Growing Communities Fund to four projects designed to improve accessibility or overall quality of life in Nanaimo.

Projects receiving money include the Design Commercial Project ($3.985 million), new washrooms at Maffeo Sutton Park ($3 million), money for a land purchase to facilitate a new South End Community Centre ($2.5 million) and washroom improvements at Westwood Lake ($1.180 million).

“Maffeo Sutton Park is our premier park and that is just the centre point of our city,” coun. Janice Perrino said of the plan for new washrooms. “So many families spend time down there, I just think it’s an important piece to have that washroom updated because it’s so appalling, you don’t want to take your children or grandchildren in to use it.”

Design for the facility is in progress, with plans being updated from the last look at the site in the last 2000’s.

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A firm location has not been decided, although it will replace the current facility, which is not earthquake-proof, and potentially expand Spirit Square and the entrance of the park itself.

Washrooms at Westwood Lake, part of phase two of upgrades at the popular summer spot, were also allocated funding.

Planning is underway, however City director of facilities and parks maintenance Art Groot told councillors they’re wanting to tie in the building with work already done.

“The washroom block that’s up there right now is of a very old vintage, so the idea would be to repurpose that existing washroom block into more of a utilitarian storage…for special events up there and actually put an accessible, universal facility closer to the phase one parking lot.”

Three other projects proposed by staff failed to make the cut for this round of funding, including upgrades to Loudon Park at Long Lake, a replacement water feature at the Nanaimo Aquatic Centre and lighting of the E&N Trail.

Coun. Paul Manly and Ben Geselbracht noted their desire to see the project proceed at some point.

However support for lighting along the trail over washrooms at a public park though, was mixed.

“It would enhance [the trail] and I would normally support it if we had piles of money but at the end of the day, somebody can carry their own light but someone who needs to use a washroom at Maffeo Sutton or Westwood Lake, there is no alternative,” Mayor Leonard Krog said. “There’s nothing they can do for self help there that would be acceptable public behaviour.”

Funding allocated towards Design Commercial will help advance the ambitious project to add more accessibility, greenery and improved lighting to Commercial St., while the money set aside for the South End Community Centre is the first funding earmarked toward land purchase on the long-desired site.

Council allocated funding to the four projects via a 6-1 vote, with coun. Geselbracht voting against and coun. Tyler Brown absent.

City staff made it clear despite missing out on this round, unfunded projects such as the E&N Trail lighting or Loudon Park upgrades were still eligible to be added to capital or other financial plans in the future.

“It’s not the end of these other projects, it’s just today trying to get some clarity on how to allocate these funds,” Dale Lindsay, CAO, added

Money in the fund comes from the provincial government, who awarded the City $16.1 million in one-time funding in March, part of $1 billion in funds made available to municipalities.

Some of the cash was already spent, including $3 million to the Harewood Artificial Turf Field Project and another $2.1 million for the Midtown Water Supply Upgrade Project.

Approximately $300,000 remains in the fund for City use moving forward.

Projects funded by Growing Communities money must be complete by March 2028.

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