Information for the City of Kingston
*These websites below will tell you what the City is doing, updated every single day, and they will tell you the number of cases in Kingston as well as in Ontario
http://www.cityofkingston.ca/covid19
https://www.kflaph.ca/en/healthy-living/novel-coronavirus.aspx
https://www.ontario.ca/page/2019-novel-coronavirus
Updated Sept 4th, 2020 8:36pm
The Mayor has declared Gord Downie Pier and the beach area closed for the season. The rest of Breakwater Park remains open.
KARC fully reopened
The Kingston Area Recycling Centre has fully reopened as of Aug 31. Some operations have changed to accommodate measures associated with COVID-19.
Recycling Depot
Open Monday to Friday 8am to 5pm and Saturdays 8am to 4pm
Up to 10 cars will be allowed to access the Recycling Depot at a time to allow space for physical distancing.
Household Hazardous Waste Depot
Open Thur 8am to 5pm and Sat 8am to 4pm
Will no longer operate on Fridays.
Administrative Buildings
Main office is open Monday to Friday 8am to 4pm
Recycling Depot scalehouse is open 8am to 5pm Monday to Friday and Saturdays 8am to 4pm
No more than two residents will be allowed in the administrative building at a time so residents may need to line up outside.
Updated August 21, 2020
The INVISTA Centre will open on Monday, September 14th with 4 ice pads and fitness centre access. Health and safety measures will be put in place in order to comply with the provincial framework and local health protocols. These measures include capacity limits and increased cleaning and sanitization to ensure that the safety of staff and patrons in the facility is paramount. Staff have been working with user groups to confirm ice needs and communicate terms of use, and will be issuing permits to the user groups the week of September 1st. Ice use will be permitted in 50-minute blocks, with capacity restricted to 50 persons per rink. The concentration of ice pads at the INVISTA Centre allows the City to focus resources in one location. Should the INVISTA Centre not be sufficient to meet user group needs for ice time, the Cataraqui/Kinsmen arena will be the next arena to open in coordination with public health authorities.
The Kingston Area Recycling Centre (196 Lappans Lane, Mon-Fri 8am-4pm) and City Hall (216 Ontario Street, 8:30am-4:30pm) are again providing residents with Blue and Grey Boxes. Residents are able to get up to 2 blue and 1 grey bin free of charge.
The reopening of KARC will enable the Household Hazardous Waste Depot to resume its normal days of operations on Thursdays 8 am-5 pm and Saturdays 8 am-4 pm as of September 3rd.
• As of September 8th, residents will be required to use Blue and Grey boxes for curbside recyclables and the temporary practice of using makeshift boxes will be discontinued. Blue and Grey Boxes are available at both KARC and City Hall.
Property Tax Bills are due August 31
Beginning Aug 31st, transit riders will have to pay transit fares again. Increased service will start and front-door boarding.
Swimming lessons are available at the Memorial Centre Outdoor AquaPark. see cityofkingston.ca/PLAY
Updated May 28th, 2020
Marinas – The City will open both Confederation Basin and Portsmouth Olympic Harbour Marinas to seasonal boaters on Friday May 29. To help allow for physical distancing measures, initial capacity at the two municipal marinas will be limited to seasonal boaters only. Seasonal boaters are those who book a slip for the entire season. Seasonal fees, which typically take effect in May each year, will be adjusted this year to reflect a start date of June 1. Recreation & Leisure staff are in direct contact with our seasonal boaters to arrange for booking slips. Opening up either marina for day boaters and transient boaters will be considered but will not be available at start up.
Updated May 19th, 2020
Ontario has said, “Ontario is amending an emergency order to open some outdoor recreational amenities, including: outdoor sports facilities and multi-use fields (including baseball diamonds, soccer fields, and frisbee golf locations, tennis, platform tennis, table tennis and pickleball courts, basketball courts, BMX parks, and skate parks); off-leash dog areas; and outdoor picnic sites, benches and shelters in park and recreational areas”.
Updates May 15, 2020
As soon as 12:01 a.m. on Saturday, May 16, 2020:
- Golf courses will be able to open, with clubhouses open only for washrooms and restaurants open only for take-out.
- Marinas, boat clubs and public boat launches may open for recreational use.
- Private parks and campgrounds may open to enable preparation for the season and to allow access for trailers and recreational vehicles whose owners have a full season contract.
- Businesses that board animals, such as stables, may allow boarders to visit, care for or ride their animal.
On Tuesday, May 19, 2020 at 12:01 a.m., there will be more re-openings:
- Retail services that are not in shopping malls and have separate street-front entrances with measures in place that can enable physical distancing, such as limiting the number of customers in the store at any one time and booking appointments beforehand or on the spot.
- Seasonal businesses and recreational activities for individual or single competitors, including training and sport competitions conducted by a recognized national or provincial sport organization. This includes indoor and outdoor non-team sport competitions that can be played while maintaining physical distancing and without spectators, such as tennis, track and field and horse racing.
- Animal services, specifically pet care services, such as grooming and training, and regular veterinary appointments.
- Indoor and outdoor household services that can follow public health guidelines, such as housekeepers, cooks, cleaning and maintenance.
- Lifting essential workplace limits on construction.
- Allowing certain health and medical services to resume, such as in-person counselling; in-person services, in addition to virtual services, delivered by health professionals; and scheduled surgeries, all based on the ability to meet pre-specified conditions as outlined in A Measured Approach to Planning for Surgeries and Procedures During the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Updates May 4, 2020
City staff will be opening the following municipal boat launches:
- Collins Bay Wharf, 4086 Bath Rd.
- Grass Creek Park, 2991 Hwy 2.
- Lake Ontario Park, 920 King St. W.
- West Street, 1 Ontario St.
- Woolen Mill Boat Ramp (at Emma Martin Park)
* The boat launches at Portsmouth Olympic Harbour Marina will remain closed to the public as per provincial emergency orders. Benches, picnic tables, playground equipment and washrooms remain closed
Updates April 25th, 2020:
- Community Gardens – The Province issued an announcement to permit the use of community gardens across the province. These gardens are an essential source of fresh food for some individuals and families, including those who face food insecurity. Physical distancing will be in place
- Provincial Parks – The Province announced the extension of closure of all provincial parks and conservation reserves for all recreational activities until May 31st. This includes car camping, backcountry camping, roofed accommodations, day use opportunities, access points and all public buildings. Reservations will be cancelled and will be refunded with no penalty. The extension of closure is in line with City closures which will be extended until the end of the month
- CRCA – the conservation areas have re-opened as you have likely heard!
- Victoria Day Fireworks are Cancelled
- City Marinas – The city is currently not taking payments as we do not know if and when we will be able to open our marinas
- Commercial Rent Support – The federal government launched the Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance. Agreements have been made with all provinces and territories to lower rent by 75% for small and medium sized businesses April, May and June. This applies to those with monthly rent less than $50,000. Charities will also be eligible for this. In addition, the Ontario program will require that landlords to agree to a moratorium on evictions for small/medium sized businesses
- Post-Secondary Institutions – We have been in discussion with post-secondary institutions in regards to their plans for September. At this point, it seems that both St. Lawrence College and Queen’s University are contemplating a combination of online and on campus learning
Updates April 10th, 2020:
- https://news.ontario.ca/opo/en/2020/04/ontario-significantly-expanding-covid-19-testing.html
- Leaf and Yard Waste Depot (KARC)
- On Tuesday April 7th, there were over 600 cars that went to KARC, resulting in a line-up of backed up cars all the way to Counter St. and the line-up took 1 hour
- New rules unfortunately have to be set in place….
- Residents can only go to the Leaf and Yard Waste Depot on their Garbage Day
- Lemoine Point, the Little Cataraqui Creek Conservation Area and all other conservation areas are now closed due to COVID-19 required social distancing. The reasons, however unpopular the decision is, are that they were getting too crowded, some suspicious activity was happening in parts of the woods, and there simply isn’t enough conservation area staff to act as bylaw officers to police all areas
- The Rotary Park parking lot is also being closed off since there is the Provincial Order to close play structures and off-leash dog parks
- However, the Lemoine Point south parking lot is open. People could park there or along the end of Front Road and still go for walks along Front Road; just not into Lemoine Point. I realize that is a small consolation for the Lemoine Point closure
- You may have noticed that the Collins Bay Boat Launch and Pier is also closed, as per the Provincial Order that includes all public spaces where people may gather. Let’s hope that we can keep the curve FLAT and re-open the Boat Launch in time for the summer boating season
- The fines for breaking the Provincial Order closures start at $500
- If you want to report Provincial Orders being broken, you are to call the Police 613-549-4660 and ask for Dispatch
- These are the activities NOT ALLOWED and they are enforceable by the police and city bylaw officers:
- People using or entering outdoor recreational amenities such as basketball court, soccer field, park bench, skate park, dog parks, community gardens, picnic tables in parks, swing set, play structures
- People using public docks, boat ramps
- Social gathering of more than 5 people including within private dwellings – a gathering of members of a single household is exempt
- For clarity, people can walk through a park, but cannot walk through a soccer field. That is why people can still walk through Lake Ontario Park, for example, Richardson Beach, or Doug Fluhrer Park
- Please note that sitting park benches are not allowed. That really struck me
- Food To-Go Restaurant Service OPEN during COVID-19