KINGSTON, Ont. — The City of Kingston will spend $25 million on infrastructure over the next year and a portion of that will be tied to relocating the city works department.

The plan is to acquiring part of the Ministry of Transportation’s Counter Street property to centralize the city department there. As well, a number of small waterfront lots will be reclaimed from the federal government.

The spending for infrastructure upgrades is twice that of last year, Mayor Isabel Turner says if residents object to a project in their neighborhood, “I can always target another area, as there are so many backlogs, we have lots of room to move around.”

For truckers on local delivery to Canada’s first capital city, the mayor plans to make your life more difficult, too. She will introduce a municipal beautification strategy that will include the closing of Ontario Street in front of City Hall to vehicles.

Turner put forward a similar motion last July but the motion was defeated.

“This will be a year to press forward, having taken into account that we still have much in our house to repair, and (to) maintain making a concerted effort to insure the city’s well being,” Turner says.