NEWS RELEASE
CITY OF ORILLIA
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The City of Orillia is extending the timeline of free parking in Downtown Orillia and municipal parking lots until Sept. 8, 2020 in a continued effort to assist residents and businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The free parking applies to on-street parking in Downtown Orillia, with a time limit of 30 minutes to facilitate curbside pick-up, and within municipal parking lots for a maximum of two hours to encourage longer stays in the downtown.
“In a time when supporting local matters most, we decided to continue free parking through to the end of the summer holiday season to further encourage residents and visitors to shop local,” said Mayor Steve Clarke. “It’s important to keep on-street parking reserved for curbside pick-up and shorter stays as people continue to regain confidence with shopping indoors. If you plan to stay longer for a meal or are visiting multiple stores, please take advantage of one of our many free municipal lots located in the downtown.”
From Thursday to Friday and holiday Mondays, free parking does not apply to municipal lots 8 and 12 near the waterfront, as these lots are included in the temporary COVID-19 Waterfront Parking and Boat Launch Program because of their proximity to Couchiching Beach Park. Residents must display their Resident Parking Permit in those lots in order to receive free parking. Visitors are required to pay $50 to park.
Municipal parking lot permit holders who pre-purchased their permits before March 19, 2020, can transfer their April to August parking permits for an equal number of months up to January 2021. Permit holders who purchased permits for the entire year will be able to exchange their April to August permits for the same number of months in 2021. Parking permit exchanges can be done at Orillia City Centre between Aug. 4 to Dec. 24, 2020 and will be by appointment only until further notice.
For more information regarding parking permit exchanges, please call 705-325-3975.
Other City of Orillia community assistance measures still in place include:
- Emergency fund of $100,000 to be distributed to critical lead service providers on an as-needed basis.
- Waived 2020 water and sewer penalty and interest through to Sept. 30, 2020, for both residential and businesses.
- Suspension of all water shut-offs due to non-payment of water bills until Sept. 30, 2020.
- Deferred implementation of the Municipal Accommodation Tax (MAT) to Sept. 1, 2020.
- Established an Economic Recovery Task Force.
- One-million dollars set aside for COVID-19 related social and economic recovery efforts.
- Offering an alternative day camp program called ‘Camp Orillia’ this summer as a child care service to help parents who are returning to work.
- Launched #OrilliaCares campaign to share community acts of kindness.
The City continues to monitor the COVID-19 situation and adapt services and community assistance and prevention measures accordingly. For detailed information on City services and amenities, please visit orillia.ca/COVID-19.
For more information on the COVID-19 Assessment Centre in Orillia visit: osmh.on.ca/covid-19/
For COVID-19 updates from the SMDHU visit: http://www.simcoemuskokahealth.org/Promos/Novel-Coronavirus
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