The city is set to lift its ban on tents in Orillia's parks.
Council committee voted Monday in favour of allowing tents and other shade structures, with some restrictions.
The move prohibits people from setting up, using or leaving tents at city parks between 9 p.m. and 8 a.m.
Tents — defined by the city as “any portable shelter including but not limited to a camping tent, sunshade or canopy” — cannot be more than 1.5 metres in height or cover a space that is more than 4.6 square metres on any portion of a beach, or occupy a space greater than 9.3 square metres in any part of a park that is not a beach.
Coun. Mason Ainsworth requested the staff report in July after hearing concerns from park users who wanted some shelter from the sun.
“It’s a great compromise,” he said.
Coun. Ralph Cipolla supported allowing tents in parks but not in beach areas.
He heard some people had been using tents on the beach “as a washroom.”
“Young kids were digging up washroom droppings, and it’s very unsanitary and can cause disease to kids,” he said.
Shawn Crawford, manager of legislative services, said he was aware of one such complaint, and it happened when the public washrooms were closed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
A requirement that at least one side of a tent be open to public view should be “adequate,” Crawford said.
Cipolla was concerned about bylaw officers’ capacity to enforce the new rules.
“We don’t have the patrols to make sure that they’re open all the time,” he said of tents. “They can close them and go to the washroom in them.”
Coun. Ted Emond also spoke about the possibility of additional strains on bylaw officers, saying they would be required to carry a tape measure to determine the size of the structures.
“We over-regulate,” he said. “The current regulation is simple to enforce. It says, ‘No.’”
“I would suggest that enforcement right now is difficult,” Crawford responded.
He said 176 warnings — 100 at Tudhope Park and 76 at Centennial Park — were issued in the summer regarding tents. About 80 per cent were issued at beach areas.
“The officers battled with a lot of these beach goers that were quite upset about the outright ban,” he said.
Crawford noted a tent ban has been in effect for several years, but bylaw officers used discretion with enforcement. Before the pandemic, if small structures were at beach areas, there typically wasn’t a problem, he said.
The city cracked down during the pandemic as a way to discourage overcrowding at parks.
Coun. Tim Lauer supported the use of smaller structures, but he didn’t agree with allowing tents up to 100 square feet to be set up wherever people want in any park.
“I’m just not comfortable with this blanket permission,” he said, adding Couchiching Beach Park, for example, is “relatively small” and the larger tents could take away open areas for an entire day.
If any problems arise next summer, the city can revisit the issue, Mayor Steve Clarke said.
