Community News

PLAN FOR UNIVERSAL WASHROOMS IN CATHOLIC SCHOOLS RELEASED

ROLAND CILLIERS rcilliers@metroland.com

A plan for universal washrooms at all Halton Catholic District School Board facilities has been revealed, but they won't necessarily be soon, or cheap.

At a recent meeting of the HCDSB board, staff presented a report on the feasibility of creating universal washrooms at all the board's schools. The estimated cost for the project was set at $4.2 million and would roll out over a 13year implementation period.

The Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act mandates the installation of universal washrooms in public buildings with the goal of making the province more user-friendly for people with disabilities.

Brenda Agnew, Burlington trustee, said it's about privacy and dignity for people of all abilities and that the lack of those washrooms in many of the board's facilities presents a real problem.

"What do we do in those situations where we have someone coming into our school or a teacher that goes to another location? We do have teachers who have disabilities. Or, we have someone come into our schools to speak — what do we do in those situations? I mean, to me, it's just human rights, right?" said Agnew.

Out of the 59 HCDSB facilities looked at, only 14 of them have an Ontario Building Code compliant universal washroom accessible from the main corridor. Seventeen of those facilities would need only minor improvements to have a compliant washroom while 28 would require substantial renovations.

Ryan Merrick, superintendent of facility management services, said the requirements are very particular for what qualifies as a universal washroom. Over the years, what's mandated to be included in an accessible washroom has changed as has the name given to that type of facility.

"There's very specific building code items that have to be a part of it to classify as a universal washroom. All new construction has to have them, so as we're doing new builds, they have to have one, as we do new additions even. Whenever we pull a building permit, the requirement is it has a universal washroom," said Merrick. "Universal washroom is the current term, right now; it will likely evolve to a different place in the future. I'm not sure if the term will be 'beyond universal,' but there'll be something beyond that and it will be a different term as well."

Mandatory requirements include the washroom be large enough for a wheelchair to turn, have a power-operated door and an emergency call button.

The implementation plan aims to complete roughly three to five washrooms per year.

NEWS

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2023-03-23T07:00:00.0000000Z

2023-03-23T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://communitynews.pressreader.com/article/281526525301371

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