Hamilton City Council’s services and facilities are preparing to return to the ‘old normal’ now New Zealand is under COVID-19 Alert Level 1.

Restrictions on visitor numbers have been lifted at all of our sites, and staff are excited to welcome back Hamiltonians who haven’t visited our community facilities since the lockdown.

Parts of our return to business as usual will be gradually phased in and some features of Alert Level 2 will remain in place.

These include QR code posters at our community facilities to help people keep track of where they’ve been, and the temporary opening hours for Hamilton Zoo and Hamilton City Libraries.

We ask that residents wash their hands before and after visiting Council sites, sneeze and cough into your elbow while enjoying our facilities and if you are sick, please stay home.

Rubbish and recycling
There will be no immediate changes to the current kerbside rubbish and recycling service under Alert Level 1. Rubbish bags will continue to be collected as normal. Glass jars and bottles, plastics 1 and 2, tin and aluminium placed in the green recycling crate will be collected. Paper and cardboard will also be collected as normal but sent to landfill.

Hamilton Organic Centre will no longer be accepting recycling from tomorrow. Recycling can be dropped off to the Refuse Transfer Centre on Lincoln St from Wednesday 10 June. The recycling shop at the transfer station will be open for sales only.

Hamilton City Libraries
Temporary opening hours will continue while staff are busy processing the thousands of items that were out on loan two months ago and are slowly being returned.

All branches are open Monday to Friday, 10am to 4.30pm, Saturday, 9am to 12.30pm, and closed on Sunday.

Items borrowed before the libraries physically closed on 22 March are due to be returned by 30 June. Items will incur fines after that date.

Public programmes such as Storytime resume from today. Check the Hamilton City Libraries website for details.

The Central Library’s Auaha makerspace will reopen on 24 June.

Hamilton Gardens
You can wind your way around Hamilton Gardens as usual now with the one-way route removed and limits on maximum numbers lifted.

Hamilton Gardens will be open daily from 7am until sundown (about 5.30pm). The Enclosed Gardens are open daily from 10am to 4pm.

The Indian Char Bagh Garden and Chinoiserie Garden are closed for planting that could not be done during previous alert levels. The Chinoiserie garden will reopen shortly and the Indian Char Bagh Garden is due to reopen in August.

The Hamilton Gardens Information Centre and gift shop is open daily from 9am to 5pm and is accepting cash or contactless payment.

The Hamilton Gardens Café is open daily from 9.30am to 4.30pm.

Hamilton Gardens is now taking event bookings. Please contact the team on team on 07 958 5940 or bookings.gardens@hcc.govt.nz.

Hamilton Pools
Gallagher Aquatic Centre is open as normal for lane and leisure swimming with no restrictions around numbers and all pools open.

Waterworld has removed limits on numbers in the pools and at the gym and welcomed back leisure swimmers. The 25m and hydrotherapy pools are open, but the toddler pool remains shut. The 50m pool hall is closed for maintenance, including the dive pool. The spa, sauna and hydroslide are closed for servicing.

Hamilton Zoo
Hamilton Zoo will remain closed on Mondays until further notice to allow for extra cleaning and to ease the pressure on Zoo staff, who have been working throughout the different alert levels.

Keeper talks and animal encounters are still on hold. Please keep an eye on the Hamilton Zoo website or follow Hamilton Zoo on Facebook to find out when these will restart.

Group bookings are now open with no restrictions on numbers.

Waikato Museum, ArtsPost, and i-SITE
Normal opening hours have resumed, 10am to 5pm daily. All restrictions on visitor numbers have been lifted and all galleries and exhibitions are open.

Parks and playgrounds
Community facilities in our parks are now open for bookings again, with no restriction on numbers.

All playgrounds are open. Not all toilets have soap dispensers as these are a frequent target for vandalism. Please bring your own hand sanitiser. Toilets are cleaned daily.

Sports parks
Most winter sports codes are already training on Hamilton’s sports fields with competition starting on Saturday 13 June.

We are working with Sport Waikato, regional sports organisations and clubs to ensure a coordinated approach to getting teams back onto our parks. Under Alert Level 1, there will be no physical distancing or contact tracing needed.

Major events at H3 venues (FMG Stadium Waikato, Claudelands Arena, Seddon Park)
With restrictions around events now lifted, large crowds can return to our venues for sports games, concerts and large conferences.

Initiatives such as intensive cleaning, hygiene messaging and contactless purchasing will continue.

FMG Stadium Waikato will host the Gallagher Chiefs first home game of the revamped Super Rugby Aotearoa competition against the Blues on Saturday 12 June. L.A.B’s sold-out gig at Claudelands Arena has been brought forward to 11 July and will be the first arena event at the venue in over three months.

Parking and transport
Our parking team has returned to its daily duties. Contactless payments are available in most places for parking on street and in carpark buildings, including via the PayMyPark App. If you need to use cash at a parking meter or pay station, consider sanitising or washing your hands afterwards.

The Garden Place Carpark is open and the Transport Centre will return to normal operating hours from Wednesday 10 June (Monday to Friday, 7am to 6pm, Saturday and Sunday 9am to 4pm).

The bus service is run by Waikato Regional Council. For all information and updates on bus services, please visit www.busit.co.nz.

Council meetings
This week’s Annual Plan and Strategic Risk and Assurance meetings will be held remotely via Zoom. From next week, Council and Committee meetings are likely to return to the Council Chambers. Members of the public can continue to have their say about items on the meeting’s agenda during public forum, either by joining the meeting via ZOOM, providing a written submission, or likely from next week, attending the meetings in person. Confirmation about next weeks meetings will be available on our website later this week. Meetings will be live streamed on the Council’s website for the public to watch and uploaded to our YouTube channel.

Animal Education and Control
Dog registrations are due by 30 September 2020 and are preferably done online. Renewal notices will be sent out in mid-June. If you are unable to register your dog online, you can visit our Animal Education and Control Centre on Ellis St, Frankton, or the Council building in Garden Place.

Our Animal Education and Control Centre remains open from 1pm to 3pm daily. From Thursday 18 June, normal hours will resume – 12.30pm to 4.30pm daily. Adoption visits are by appointment only.

Dogs are now allowed off their leads for exercise at designated off-lead parks.

Council events and permitting
The Council’s event permitting process is back to normal. The Department of Internal Affairs will determine when citizenship ceremonies will restart.

Hamilton Cemeteries
There is no restriction on the number of people who can attend funeral services beyond facility limits. Chapel and graveside service bookings start as normal from today.

Fluoride-free water
The non-fluoride tap at Claudelands Park is operating but the one at Taitua Arboretum is still turned off due to maintenance requirements.

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