The closure of the RiverWalk washrooms and removal of public lounge chairs in East Village marks the start of a “real problem” between East Village developers and the Calgary Drop-In Centre, says a longtime former councillor.

John Schmal, who represented Ward 3 for 18 years, says the city needs to find a way to make increasing development in East Village compatible with the area’s existing residents.

“They have to come together,” said Schmal, who also sits on the board of directors at the Drop-In Centre. “They can’t just sit back and wait for the last minute to get these two parties battling over who has the right to be there.”

“If no one addresses that, that’s exactly what’s going to happen,” he added.

The Calgary Municipal Land Corp. recently closed the public washrooms and removed the lounge chairs along RiverWalk over concerns they were being used inappropriately — police said some people were spending the night or using drugs in the washrooms, and others were sleeping on the lounge chairs.

Since 2007, more than $180 million in infrastructure projects have gone into East Village, a formerly rundown area east of City Hall. The Drop-In Centre sits on the northwest corner of the village along 4th Avenue, and the Salvation Army’s Centre of Hope is located on 9th Avenue S.E.

“It’s there to stay,” said Schmal, who left politics in 2004. “The people who are moving in need to know that they have (the Drop-In Centre) as a neighbour.”

Former CMLC president and CEO Chris Ollenberger, who stepped down in 2011, said he’s disappointed in the closure but acknowledged that it was a tough decision to install the washrooms in the first place.

“We knew there might be issues of abuse,” he said. “At the same time, one of the goals was to try to make it a place that invited as many people as possible to use it.”

Ward 7 Coun. Druh Farrell said the Drop-In Centre will still have a place in a fully-developed East Village.

“There will be some adjustment and some initial tension and we’re prepared for that,” she said, adding that an element of “lawlessness” had taken over some of East Village because parts of it had been so sparsely populated.

“We have every expectation that once residents move into the area, their expectations will demand better behaviour,” Farrell said.

“Residents of the Drop-In Centre are residents of East Village,” she added.

Ollenberger agreed there will be some “growing pains” as the community grows.

“There’s no question that everybody’s going to have to jostle around and figure out how to get along together and knit together as a community.”

To do that, Schmal said the city, CMLC, Drop-In Centre and Calgary Police need to figure out how all East Village residents can coexist.

“They have to start talking,” he said.

estark@calgaryherald.com@erikamstark