This week I am very pleased to share the news that City Council has given the green light to start work on the revitalization of Breakwater Park. This linear waterfront park, located along King Street, is enjoyed by thousands of Kingston residents including Queen’s students, KGH patients and families. Breakwater Park is definitely one of my favourite parks in the city, I enjoying taking my boys to watch the boats in the summertime or reading a book on one of the many park benches along the waterfront.
The revitalization plan for Breakwater Park has a number of great improvements, including a sandy beach area, a footbridge over to the swimming pier, upgraded pathways, benches and tables and a new coastline that allows for easier access to the water. This new vision for the park was something that I talked a lot about in my election campaign, especially public access to the waterfront in our downtown, and so it’s great to see this project come to fruition.
Even better news is that the city has received two sizable grants towards the $5.4 million price tag for the revitalization. The federal government has awarded a $1 million grant and Lake Ontario Waterkeepers has contributed an additional $500K. Because of these additional funding sources we can accelerate the revitalization of Breakwater Park and at the same time we can redirect municipal tax dollars toward other park projects in the city.
With work set to begin later this year, we can all look forward to a new and improved Breakwater Park by the spring of 2018!
3 Responses
This looks great, I’m really glad for better swimming access downtown. However something that needs to be addressed is that the nearby parking lots in MacDonald Park are ALWAYS filled with KGH and Queen’s staff. Those lots should be reserved for park users only all summer. I’m rather sensitive to heat, but never used air conditioning until swimming regularly became untenable. Now I have to avoid leaving the house when it’s hot. If I bike or walk to the park to swim I’ll need another swim by the time I get home again. You should also consider special e-bike parking, perhaps with charging. I’d buy one just so I’m not burning gas to take a swim.
I hope the “easier access” will include some traffic lights along King Street.
I am so happy to hear that we will at last have a beach at Breakwater Park. I have been swimming in front of the old beach house but it is extremely dangerous and slippery and people don’t want to go because of that. I have fallen several times and hurt myself. Please hurry!