City suspends indoor, outdoor recreation activities, some in-person services

OTTAWA – The move to Shutdown status across the province will temporarily close city-managed recreation and cultural facilities for most indoor activities, limit the capacity at outdoor recreation amenities and suspend in-person city counter services.

The provincial Shutdown status comes into effect on Saturday, April 3 at 12:01 a.m.

“The temporary closures will not impact the operations for respite centres, vaccination clinics, COVID-19 assessment centres, municipal childcare centres, before-and-after school programs and inclusive recreation programs,” city staff released in a statement today (April 1).

Recreation and cultural facilities will close or remain closed to the public – including recreation complexes, community centres, arenas, swimming pools, theatres, museums and art galleries.

 The following recreation and cultural programs will temporarily suspend operations:

• All reserved recreation activities – including indoor skating, swimming (public and lane swims), cardio-weight rooms, sports activities – team play and practices, and indoor fitness classes
• Any aquatic program scheduled to begin in April
• Select cultural programs that operated by reservation only at Nepean Visual Arts Centre and Shenkman Arts Centre
• Aquatic programs scheduled to begin in April will be delayed until Ottawa transitions to a lower restriction level. Registered clients will be contacted by city staff and provided program amendment information.
• No team or group recreation, sports play, scrimmage or training are permitted. Most outdoor park amenities are open and the reduced gathering limit of five people and physical distancing must be followed.
• Outdoor refrigerated rinks and Terry Fox Athletic Facility will remain closed until further notice. In line with typical seasonal opening dates, ball diamonds will remain closed until May 1, and sports fields will remain closed until May 15. Permits for synthetic turf fields are suspended until further notice.

“Residents can still sign up for many virtual recreation and arts offerings from arts, fitness, music and culinary courses,” staff said.

Visit ottawa.ca/virtualprograms for the list of available courses and registration.

For more information visit ottawa.ca/recreation and note that updates with further details will follow in the coming days.  

In-person service suspended or altered

The city will temporarily suspend in-person services effective Tuesday, April 5, including:

• City Hall and Ben Franklin Place (101 Centrepointe Dr.) Client Service Centres and Building Code Services counters. Client Services Centres will suspend our current in-person counter services which will move to online delivery. Building Code Services will continue to provide courier, curbside, email and telephone alternate service delivery options.
• The Provincial Offences Act courthouse, located at 100 Constellation Dr., Nepean, will remain closed.
• The Business Licensing Centre at 735 Industrial Avenue is open for drop-off of documents only and clients can call 613-580-2424 ext. 12735 or email businesslicensing@ottawa.ca
• The city’s Central Archives’ Reference Room at the James K. Bartleman Centre, located at 100 Tallwood Dr.

Altered services include:

• Complaints for unauthorized parking on private property will continue to require new electronic procedures for proof of authority.
• Residents needing financial assistance are asked call us at 311 and select option #4 for Social Services for information on all programs and services.
• People cannot visit the Employment and Social Services or Rent Supplement offices, but staff are available to help residents by phone, email and mail from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday to Friday.
• Ontario Works claimants do not need to drop off any documents, including income reporting statements. Those documents can be given the case worker at a later date.
• Operating Ottawa Public Library (OPL) branches will be open holds pickup and returns. You can consult OPL’s hours and locations web page at any time. Visit the OPL website for further information and to access library services online.

“While all counter services are suspended, residents can acquire some services and complete payments and registrations online or by phone or cheque,” staff said. “Please confirm with your city contact prior to mailing a cheque.”

Residents can go to myservice.ottawa.ca to pay water bills and interim property taxes.

“If you do not have an account, registration is simple – just sign-up with your email address,” staff said. “Once registered, you’ll need your account or property roll number to pay your bill.”

City bills have other payment options besides the myservice.ottawa.ca accounts, which include:

• Paying by credit or debit card online at ottawa.ca
• Paying through your financial institution by creating a payee number on your institution’s mobile app or through an ATM machine
• Paying by phone with your financial institution
• Sending a cheque by mail

Visit ottawa.ca to access many other services online as well – including pet registration, open-air fire permit, parking tickets, and load Presto Cards.

For more information on city programs and services, visit ottawa.ca or call 311 (TTY: 613-580-2401).