Multi-Year Accessibility Plan

Residents were invited to participate in an online engagement that took place from March 8 – April 1 on Get Involved Kingston. Residents were asked to share their ideas to make municipal services and facilities more accessible as the first public engagement in preparing the City’s Multi-Year Accessibility Plan 2023 - 2025. In total, 33 ideas were submitted during the engagement and 12 comments were left on various ideas.

Summary of feedback categorized by the five Integrated Accessibility Standards Regulations (IASR):

• Customer service
  1. Educate City staff on service dog requirements.
  2. Create a municipal assistive device library.
  3. Implement free parking for persons with disabilities.
     
     
• Design of public spaces
  1. Build barrier-free washrooms at all City facilities, specifically with the addition of adult change tables.
  2. Lower the height of the luggage conveyor belt at Norman Rogers Airport.
  3. Make wider wheelchair ramps.
  4. Create nap pods for persons experiencing altered consciousness (e.g., narcolepsy, epilepsy).
  5. Implement traffic calming (i.e., lower speed limits) to reduce risk to those with reduced mobility.
  6. Increase length of pedestrian signals at crosswalks downtown for pedestrians who need more time.
  7. Paint brighter lines for vehicular traffic and at crosswalks.
  8. Prioritize snow and ice removal for safe travel on sidewalks and revise the City’s Winter Maintenance Policy to reflect this change.
  9. Create more non-vehicular paths to increase cyclist and pedestrian safety.
     
     
• Employment
  1. Update the City’s e-learning platform to be compatible with Google Chrome screen reader.
      
• Information/communication
  1. Include persons with disabilities in the planning and design process, rather than at the end.
  2. Update street signs to have larger letters and greater visibility at night.
  3. Televise City Council meetings with closed captioning and American Sign Language interpretation.
  4. Continue to maintain communication options outside of online channels (e.g., print).
  5. Implement accessible wayfinding throughout the City (e.g., tactile surfaces on trails, bus route maps and schedules in accessible formats at various heights).
     
     
• Transportation
  1. Install benches at every transit stop.
  2. Adjust transit route to stop at the Via Rail building, not just John Counter Blvd.
  3. Prioritize safe transportation for those using mobility devices.
  4. Relocate transit stop at Providence Care Hospital to the front entrance from King St. W.

Summary of feedback outside of municipal jurisdiction and/or outside the scope of the Multi-Year Accessibility Plan:

• Implement a universal basic income.
• Build accessible playgrounds on school property.
• Transform Belle Park into an off-leash dog park.
• Create an unfenced dog-friendly park.
• Clear snow around Canada Post community mailboxes.
• Implement universal design principles for downtown spaces (e.g., automatic doors, ramps).
• Create a ride-share program for enclosed mobility scooters.
• Provide free computer training for seniors.
• Implement an outreach team to offer services for those who are unable to visit the Integrated Care Hub.
• Reduce telephone barriers when contacting a medical practitioner.

Next steps:

The draft Multi-Year Accessibility Plan is being prepared by staff; online engagement on the plan will take place from June 1 – June 24 on Get Involved Kingston. Feedback from this engagement will be reviewed, and a public engagement summary will be posted online in July. The final plan will be submitted for approval to the Municipal Accessibility Advisory Committee in November and then to Council in December 2022.