COVID 19 Warwick Updates

The Township Office is open to the public, with one person or family permitted in the office at the same time. Face masks must be worn to enter the building.

Services related to marriage licenses, lottery licenses, commissioning and cemetery inquiries are by appointment only.

Staff are also available by phone or e-mail to assist with all inquiries.  Inquiries can be made by phone between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. at 519-849-3926 or by e-mail to info@warwicktownship.ca.

Thank you for your understanding.

The Township continues to offer By-law Enforcement services. To limit public interaction, residents are now required to file their complaints via phone or e-mail.

To report an issue call 519-849-3926 between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. or e-mail to info@warwicktownship.ca. 

Update on COVID-19 Measures in relation to Construction Activities

As of February 16, 2021, it is our understanding that all construction may commence, provided the Regulation is amended as anticipated.

Ontario Regulation: https://www.ontario.ca/laws/regulation/200082 

Schedule 7 - Paragraph 40 states -

Construction

40. Construction activities or projects and related services that support construction activities or projects, including demolition services.

Be mindful, that the situation may change quickly based on further amendments, colour coding language/zones and the possible emergency brake option. 

Recognizing the risk posed by new variants to the province's pandemic response, Ontario is introducing an "emergency brake" to allow for immediate action if a public health unit region experiences rapid acceleration in COVID-19 transmission or if its health care system risks becoming overwhelmed. If this occurs, the Chief Medical Officer of Health, in consultation with the local medical officer of health, may advise immediately moving a region into Grey-Lockdown to interrupt transmission.

• It is understood that specific and unique situations may arise, so please inquire regarding same.
• When it doubt refer the query to the building inspectors, supervisor and/or chief building official as it relates to applications, permits and inspections.
• Further, some exceptions may apply as it relates to process and/or inspections and will be assessed on a case-by-basis.

It is your own responsibility to ascertain what you can do or not do - govern yourselves accordingly.

IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS AS IT RELATES TO INTAKE, ISSUANCE and/or INSPECTIONS

PLEASE UTILIZE THE FOLLOWING NUMBERS FOR ASSISTANCE.

• Lambton County Member Municipalities  519-845-5420

 For Township Of Warwick Building Department

Residential, Commercial, Industrial, Institutional, Agricultural

Applications

Our Department will: 

• Continue to receive and process applications, as per our current procedures for the respective area.
• Issue permits but that does not imply, construction can commence

• Please know we are processing all complete applications within the specified timeframes and as quickly as possible.

Inspections 

 Our Department will:

• Be conducting inspections on essential commercial, industrial and institutional projects.
• Continue to receive and process applications, as per our current procedures.
• Issue permits but that does not imply, construction can commence

Please be advised that the information provided is subject to all other restrictions and prohibitions under the law. 

The information does not imply that construction can be carried out in contravention of any Act, Regulation and/or provincial order prohibiting construction, including under the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act (EMPCA), as amended, or its Regulations and/or the Reopening Ontario (A Flexible Response to COVID-19) Act or its Regulations (ROA).

It is recommended that you seek legal opinion to determine whether the project can be constructed under the EMPCA or ROA before proceeding with construction.

Please further note that Inspections will only be carried out on construction projects deemed essential under the EMPCA or ROA and construction projects deemed non-essential are prohibited by law.

Further, any construction carried out in contravention of the EMPCA or ROA or their regulations may result in a fine and/or prosecution under those Acts. 

In the event of a conflict between this update and the Regulation, the Regulation shall govern.

• As you clearly understand - this situation changes quite quickly and directives may also change.
• If our position or processes change, with any facet of the matter, we will communicate out.

Please contact our Department directly, if you have any questions on the above. Questions can be directed to Corrine Nauta, Chief Building Official at 1-866-324-6912 or corrine.nauta@county.lambton.on.ca.

Council continues to meet electronically. Public notice of electronic meetings will be provided.

All electronic meetings will be livestreamed to the Township's YouTube channel at youtube.com/channel/.

Meeting information and schedules will be updated at the Council & Committee Calendar.

The Township of Warwick Fire and Rescue Department remains fully functional. We are taking precautionary measures to ensure that volunteer firefighters can attend emergencies.

Updates to our services include:

• Volunteer firefighters will still respond to incidents, however, you may see members wearing personal protective equipment such as gloves, masks, and protective eyewear. This is for their protection. To decrease the risk of exposure to our firefighters, we are asking all residents to ensure their smoke and carbon monoxide alarms are functioning properly to reduce the number of false alarm calls.
• Volunteer firefighters has been advised on best practices related to social distancing.
• Public Education and Prevention activities have been temporarily suspended.
• At this time we would ask that all correspondence be done by phone or e-mail.

The new curbside household waste and collection service began on June 3, 2020. The new service will be on Wednesdays and will be weekly in Watford and Warwick Village and bi-weekly in the rural area of the municipality.

Unless the Bluewater Recycling Association (BRA) was advised otherwise by property owners, all residential properties were provided a medium waste wheelie bin and a large recycling wheelie bin.

Please contact Bluewater Recycling Association (BRA) directly at 1-800-265-9799 if you need to change the size of your bins or with any questions about the service change.

• Warwick Township Collection

NOTE: All property owners will continue to be able to access the waste and recycling drop off location at Twin Creeks Landfill, whether they participate in the automated collection program or not.

Twin Creeks Landfill

Twin Creeks Environmental Center will be open on Saturdays effective this Saturday, February 13th. They will be returning to regular operating hours. 

For up to date information about Lambton County Library's service levels and hours, visit lclibrary.ca

At this time, services related to lottery licenses are by appointment only.

The following information was provided by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) regarding lottery license events affected by COVID-19.

Options for Charitable Lotteries during the COVID-19 pandemic

This message is to help municipalities that license charitable lottery schemes in Ontario understand their options in light of the societal impact of COVID-19. These are truly exceptional times that are affecting all aspects of our lives. We wish to offer as much guidance and support as we can to all those who rely on the AGCO’s services.

The AGCO has received a number of inquiries from charities asking about pausing their raffle draws and events. We wanted to share with municipalities the response the AGCO is providing to charities, so that you may use similar language with your licensees if you choose.

Terms and Conditions attached to current lottery licenses

Due to uncertainties related to the COVID-19 pandemic, the AGCO Registrar is providing as much flexibility as possible in the application of the Terms and Conditions attached to current lottery licenses.  

For example:

1. For licenses where the event has not yet started, licensees may choose to not begin sales until the pandemic concerns have passed.

2. For current raffle licensees that have started ticket sales, each situation will need to be considered on its own merits. You will need to consider whether it is appropriate under the circumstances to extend the sale of tickets, even though it would have the effect of reducing the odds of winning for anyone who has already purchased a ticket. You will also need to consider whether it is appropriate under these exceptional circumstances to postpone the raffle draw date altogether. Both options are available to you.

3. For Break Open Ticket licensees who have started ticket sales, you may consider extending the term of ticket sales.

4. For bingo licensees who are unable to conduct their events, you may consider extending the term of your event.

Although the Premier of Ontario announced a state of emergency for the province, he was also clear that this is not a lock-down of the province. Certain sectors regulated by the AGCO continue to operate and as long as they do, we will continue supporting them and conducting our regulatory activities to make sure they continue to operate with honesty, integrity and in the public interest.

We share everyone’s concerns about the toll the outbreak of this virus is taking on our communities and the charities, businesses, individuals and families that are affected by it. We appreciate the difficult times we are all facing and we’re here to support you as we all continue working through these challenges together.

The safety of all Ontarians is the OPP's top priority. There are currently no changes to our frontline operations.

Report less serious incidents online at opp.ca/reporting. For non-emergencies call 1-888-310-1122.

In case of emergency, call 911.

The OPP encourages businesses to voluntarily comply with all short-term restrictions. Education, awareness and compliance are preferred options, but officers will apply discretion whether to launch any enforcement actions such as:

• Offences relating to non-essential businesses that remain open in contravention of the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act. (EMCPA).
• Offences relating to gatherings of more than five people in contravention of the EMCPA.
• Quarantine Act violations at the request of a screening officer or quarantine officer.

Road operations including road and streetlight maintenance continues as normal. All maintenance requests or notifications must now be done via e-mail or by phone.

If you have an emergency related to roads, please contact the Public Works Emergency phone at 519-490-5684.

2022 Tax bills will be issued in February. The first installment is due on February 28. The next installment will be due on April 29. 

Payments

Payments can be made by various methods. View information on available payment options. 

At this time there will be no interruption to the water and wastewater billings. As a reminder, the following locations will be billed in the next few months as planned:

• Watford - on a monthly basis (included on your Bluewater Power bill)
• Warwick Village and rural area - next bills will be due on January 31 and April 29

Payments

Payments can be made by various methods. View information on available payment options.

Water and Wastewater

Water and Wastewater services will general be provided in the normal fashion. Urgent matters including watermain breaks, sewage back-ups, etc. will continue to be handled on an as need basis and should be reported by phone or through our website.

If you have an emergency related to water or sewer, please call 1 (888) 522-0117.