Recreation and Tourism Director Samuel Cardarelli presented a report to council during its April 12 session about a plan to make sure both resident and visiting boat owners have parking space for their boat trailers while they go out on the Ottawa River this summer.

Town staff have tried for several years now to devise an efficient way of providing adequate parking for both resident and seasonal boaters at the municipal boat launches at Confederation Park on Île du Chenail and the Cyr-de-LaSalle Park site off of Philippe Street. Cardarelli’s report noted an increase in out-of-town boat owners coming to Hawkesbury in recent years “which has caused parking to become an issue” for local boat owners when they want to use the boat launch sites for either weekend or holiday boating excursions.

Council approved Cardarelli’s recommendations to restrict the Cyr-de-LaSalle Park boat launch to seasonal and resident parking passes for boat owners. The Confederation Park site will be available for season and resident passes and the recreation and tourism department will also install a pay-and-display machine kiosk to issue day passes for boat owners using the parking lot area at that site.

The municipality would continue to offer seasonal and resident parking passes for the boat launches through its online system. The recreation and tourism department will present a review report on parking pass fees for the boat launches at a future council session.