Maybe the Easter Bunny helped Newmaket bylaws officers keep order

Town officials report no tickets for crowd activity during holiday weekend

Yorkregion.com
April 15, 2020
John Cudmore

It was an Easter holiday weekend of compliance in parks and public areas in Newmarket.

Residents seem to be accepting the message for observing social interaction rules related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

For the second weekend, municipal bylaws officers patrolled spread the message about physical distancing. No tickets were issued for the period from April 10 to 12.

In fact, only a few incidents were recorded of people playing on sports fields or simply gathered in observations at 136 parks.

“It was a great weekend -- no new tickets issued,” said a Town of Newmarket statement released April 14 based on a report by manager of regulatory services, Flynn Scott. “Everyone was compliant for the most part so the messaging is working.”

He said on four or five occasions groups of teenagers were approached either playing on sports fields or simply gathered together. They dispersed in the presence of bylaws officers.

In all, 563 people were observed in various levels of interaction. Bylaws officers encountered people having picnics on park benches and interacted with several groups with social distancing requests.

For the week starting April 7, there were 55 formal complaints received by the municipality for physical distancing and 41 formal complaints for people using parks.

On the business side, the town received 56 calls requesting general information relating to parks and businesses.

There were 42 formal complaints for businesses operating out of compliance with the provincial order, including non-essential being open and essential not practicing social distancing.