The Town of the Blue Mountains (TBM) is looking at implementing a number of new safety procedures this summer in order to keep residents and visitors safe.
“Obviously we are going to have some challenges with 2.5 million visitors in a normal summer,” says the TBM mayor Alar Soever. “People will start to come up here and that is going to pose a few challenges. We want to make sure that when they come that procedures and processes are in place to keep people as safe as possible.”
Soever says that with the continued positive numbers from the health unit and the provincial government easing COVID-19 restrictions, the TBM is diligently working on its own post-COVID-19 public-safety strategies.
“You can never make the risk go down to zero, but certainly we can do the best we can,” Soever says, adding that town staff and council have been focusing on how to minimize touchpoints and encouraging social distancing at all the town-run facilities.
“There will be a slow opening. As soon as we can figure out how to do everything safely – tennis courts, the dog park, athletic fields – will all be opening up,” he says.
Soever adds the TBM Community Recovery Task Force meets every two weeks to discuss issues and updates relating to the town’s COVID-19 recovery.
On top of the task force meetings, Soever says he also has frequent conversations with other TBM council members on how TBM may operate in the post-COVID world.
“One of the things we have noticed is that there are several businesses with pick-up windows and when there are more people around, you get a lot of people standing around waiting at these windows. And, you can’t have crowds waiting,” he says.
Soever explains that TBM council has been discussing the idea of blocking off areas along Thornbury’s Main Street to allow for improved social distancing measures at the entrances of the local businesses.
“We have not decided if this will be a full-street closure or just the parking areas. We are consulting with the local businesses,” he says. “We would just be looking at putting up barriers and blocking off the parking spots.”
The idea would be to create a larger area that is marked, so that residents can easily see the distances they need to maintain, while still being able to frequent the local businesses’ pick-up windows.
Currently, beaches in the area are closed due to orders from the Grey Bruce Health Unit. However, TBM has been discussing how they will go about managing the public once the beach season arrives.
“We may have to consider putting limits on how many people can be at a beach,” Soever continues. “That means more [bylaw] staffing and when the beach is full, then there may need to be signs. That’s kind of the approach that the Blue Mountain Village is taking as well – restricting the number of people allowed in at one time.”
Soever adds town staff are also looking at acquiring additional public washroom facilities and portable hand washing stations for select town sites.
“The biggest challenge right now is the washrooms. The guideline from the province says you need to clean the washrooms twice a day. But, we don’t think that that is enough. We are trying to get best practices in how you deal with that kind of thing,” Soever says.
Facilities that are currently closed in TBM include: town hall, Beaver Valley Community Centre, Craigleith Community Centre, Ravenna Hall, Blue Mountains Public Library, Craigleigh Heritage Depot, Tomahawk Golf Course, baseball diamonds, tennis courts,
Baseball diamonds and the dog park are expected to open on May 27.
Currently in the TBM, parks and trails remain limited to walk through or passage-only. The Thornbury Harbour is open to the public, including the boat launch, which opened on May 22. Visit the TBM’s interactive map for a full list of available amenities.
