Revitalizing Breakwater Park

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!