The City of Ottawa says it is cutting down the number of sites where citizens and visitors can camp in the city for Canada 150 celebrations.
Initially, 11 sites around the city were available for people to book for the Canada Day weekend, but Dan Chenier, General Manager of Recreation, Cultural and Facility Services, says in a memo that as of May 23, only 79 registrations for urban camping have been made, mostly at sites close to downtown.
This represents only 13.5% of the total number of camping sites approved by City Council.
Chenier says as of May 24, the number of sites will be reduced from 11 to 5, in order to “better reflect the level of demand and to contain costs.”
Chenier says it is getting close to the time when “firm commitments must be made for services such as security, equipment rentals, waste disposal, etc.”
According to the memo, the sites that will remain available for urban camping registrations, as of May 24, will be:
The following areas will removed from offer:
Chenier says if registration rates change significantly between now and the end of the registration period on June 15, the total number of urban camping sites will be reassessed.