Kingston waterfront news: December 2005

The City of Kingston has just acquired the Bittern to be converted into a fireboat.

The City hopes to get MetalCraft Marine, whose order books for new fireboats are bulging, to perform the retrofitting.

The December 2005 KYC Log has been posted.

It turns out that the City won't be forced to abide by these proposed rules (see also here).

In short, the City won't have to do this:

1. Notify downstream communities prior to bypassing sewage into waterways.
2. Monitor every bypass and publicize the length of the bypass, the quantity of sewage discharged, the direction and size of the plume, the level of contamination present in the bypass (eg, E. coli concentrations), and other similar data.
3. Ensure that every waterway is cleaned up after being exposed to a bypass.

Instead, the City and the Ministry of the Environment negotiated a non-binding "letter of commitment" to notify the medical officer of health and the Frontenac Islands Township in the event that untreated waste is discharged into area water.

The City and the Ministry of Environment make a deal in the Belle Park landfill case. Update: Coverage by The Whig and CKWS-TV.

The CFB Kingston Yacht Club has posted a (very) preliminary calender some of their 2006 events. Lift-in is Sunday May 14th which, as their home page points out, is a mere 150 days from now.

The Tett Centre, Kingston's waterfront arts haven, is under some threat, and some mobilization will probably be required to save it. Update: The city hires Artscape, a Toronto firm, to study the Tett Centre.

Also down at Anglin Bay, this week MetalCraft Marine shipped a new 36ft. FireStorm fireboat to Perth Amboy, New Jersey (Google map here) to work in New York harbour.

Kingston Marina used two cranes to haul out this 60ft. tug yesterday for a Transport Canada inspection. This boat is due back in the water ASAP with the job of breaking ice for Brockville harbour.

Kingston Marina reports having more boats for winter storage, and more boats for in-water winter storage, than ever before. This picture show's the Anglin Bay harbour full of boats that are too big to be hauled out. Theyare using agitators to keep the ice away. The largest vessel being stored is the Canadian Empress at 108 ft.

The agenda for the December 6th Council meeting contains this item about the City purchasing the Queen Street dock, which is next to the Wolfe Island Ferry dock and across the street from the proposed LVEC, with no immediate or clear purpose.

Updated: Read CKWS-TV's report of Monday, December 5th.

CKWS-TV reported Friday that a 72-foot cruise ship, the "Georgian Clipper", will begin serving the port of Kingston in the spring. See their 2006 itinerary, and see more pictures and diagrams of the vessel here.

This ship only carries 18 passengers. The story notes that, apparently, Kingston lacks the deep water docking to accommodate this sort of business on a larger scale. It's pretty clear that Kinston is underachieving in a spectacular way when it comes to accommodating larger vessels, cruise vessels included.

CKWS-TV reports that Collins Bay Marina has achieved the Ontario Marina Operators Association's highest honours for environmental best practices.

Collins Bay Marina has other environmentally-related feathers itn its cap:

• Receipt of the OMOA's Robert Eaton Environmental Award "for excellence in environmental practices within the marine industry".
• Presentation with the DuPont Canada Annual Ecology Award from the Cataraqui Conservation Foundation.
• Seminal work with the OMOA executive in establishing the Clean Marine Program that is now in place across the province.
• Education of boaters and the provision of incentives for participation in environmentally responsible measures and programs.
• The provision of specialized equipment and implementation of appropriate containment procedures to enable their boaters to work safely with potentially hazardous materials in the course of doing maintenance on their boats.