New Emergency Orders Designed to Limit the Spread of Covid-19 During Third Wave
As indicated in our previous newsflash, last Friday the Ontario government announced new restrictions meant to address soaring COVID-19 infections across the province. Of particular relevance to condominium corporations are the additional restrictions on i) non-essential construction; ii) the limit on outdoor social gatherings and organized public events; and iii) the closure of outdoor recreational amenities.
Though not specifically a condominium issue, we also address the expanded police enforcement authority below, as many condominium residents are potentially impacted by these new police powers.
Non-Essential Construction: Ontario Regulation 297/21 made under the Reopening Ontario (A Flexible Response To Covid-19) Act, 2020 provides that “Residential construction projects and related services” is essential construction. This means that building projects such as Kitec piping replacement and in-suite construction can continue where the Board of Directors deems such projects necessary and appropriate. That noted, there is no requirement that these projects proceed. The Board continues to have discretion, as it has had throughout the pandemic, to restrict construction projects where appropriate, including in-suite renovations. Each condominium corporation must consider what measures are appropriate for its own community. We continue to recommend that Boards encourage residents to limit renovations to only those renovations which are required to ensure health and safety and that the unit is habitable. Boards should also consider what restrictions may be necessary to ensure that any permitted renovations create as little disruption as possible, particularly given that more residents are at home following the Stay-At-Home Order. The Stay-At-Home Order remains in effect until at least May 20, 2021.
Limits on Outdoor Gatherings: Only members of the same household are permitted to congregate outdoors, with the exception of those persons who live alone, who may join one other household. Practically speaking, this means that all outdoor common element terraces and BBQ facilities should remain (or be) closed or, alternatively, should be made available to only one household at any given time (plus a maximum of one additional person who lives alone), following a reservation which identifies every individual attending the amenity.
Closure of Outdoor Recreational Facilities: All outdoor recreational amenities such as golf courses and basketball courts must close under the new emergency order. The amenities may be open for the purposes of maintenance, safety or similar reasons. In addition, an outdoor amenity that is a park or recreational area may be open for the purposes of allowing people to simply walk through the park or recreational area. The regulations currently also require the closure of all playgrounds, but this was reversed yesterday afternoon in a tweet by the Premier following public backlash. According to the Premier, the regulations will be amended to allow playgrounds to remain open. Read the tweet here.
Random Police Stops: Police constables were given new authority to stop both pedestrians and motorists and require individuals to provide their home address and purpose for not being at home. Since the announcement of these expanded powers, the Toronto Police Service and other police services across the province have confirmed they will focus on educating, as opposed to fining, the public. However, given the potential legal challenges to random stops and the tremendous public outcry following Friday’s announcement about the new police enforcement powers, the government has narrowed the scope of the expanded police powers. Yesterday, an Order in Council was made to clarify that enforcement efforts would target larger social gatherings, as opposed to individual motorists and pedestrians going about their daily lives. The regulation says:
"Where a police officer or other provincial offences officer has reason to suspect that an individual may be participating in a gathering that is prohibited by [the section of the regulations dealing with outdoor gatherings and social events] and believes that it would be in the public interest to determine whether the individual is in compliance with that clause, the officer may require the individual to provide information for the purpose of determining whether they are in compliance with that clause."
The Order in Council and wording of the relevant regulation can be found here.
We will provide more updates when available.