Photo: Rob Gibson

The new washroom at Rutland's Centennial Park was only open for a day before it had to be closed due to vandalism.

City of Kelowna manager of public works Geert Bos tells Castanet the washroom will be closed indefinitely after the sinks were vandalized.

“Tuesday during regular operational hours the washroom was vandalized and there is some equipment like the porcelain sinks, that have sharp edges, which makes it unsafe for the washroom to remain open,” Bos says.

Work on Centennial Park in Rutland started in 2017 and was completed in four phases at a total cost of $1.2M. Bos couldn’t say how much construction of the washroom itself was, however, the washroom recently built at Gyro Beach in Kelowna cost $674,000.

“It's very unfortunate, especially since it's such a beautiful park, It's really a little jewel and it's just too bad to see a lot of vandalism on these public properties, but it's something we have to deal with,” Bos says.

This latest vandalism incident occurred in Rutland, but Bos says he sees this type of senseless act all over the city.

"I think unfortunately it happens to a lot to the public spaces that we have in Kelowna. I mean, don't forget we have in excess of 250 parks in the city. It's really an unfortunate thing.”

Replacement parts could take some time before they arrive so the washroom will remain closed for the foreseeable future.