Around 33,000 people went to Ezra Avenue for St. Patrick's Day 2019

With St. Patrick's Day coming up in two weeks time, officials are preparing for a big test of new measures to try and eliminate unsanctioned street parties in the university district.

These details will likely be discussed at length at Waterloo city council Monday night, as a new report looks at 12 new recommendations from a task force to shut the party down over the next couple years.

A number of the measures look at education, from engaging the student population, talking with landlords on how to better manage overcrowding, approaching the province to give municipal enforcement more capabilities, and a $100,000 multi-faceted communications plan, which they call a key tool to integrate into all activities and recommendations.

One of the big moves looks at whether the city and Wilfrid Laurier University should explore a redesign for the neighbourhood into a "mixed-use, predominantly institutional area, with a pedestrian focus."

"There may be potential for the public road network to be closed through this redesign," the report reads.

(CLICK HERE to read the full report, from page 34-57.)

For context, this is part of the staff report, which doesn't rule out the "potential for the public road network to be closed through this redesign." Again, this is a staff report. We will have to wait and see if there's an appetite for it from council and @Laurier. pic.twitter.com/UIi9HVSgWV — Mark Pare (@MarkLPare) March 2, 2020

Over 33,000 people filled Ezra Avenue a year ago, a party that branched over onto Clayfield and Bricker Avenue due to the mass of people.

Police Chief Bryan Larkin anticipates numbers to be in the 30,000 range for this St. Patrick's Day.

He says measures seen at Laurier Homecoming 2019, such as fenced-in areas with porta-potties and garbage bins, are just part of the plan they have for this year to manage the crowd and keeping safety in mind.

Homecoming 2019 saw some positives, with a peak attendance of 4,700 people.

But it also came with a year-over-year increase in arrests related to the parties (from 12 to 17, though only three in the Ezra corridor) and Criminal Code charges laid (from six to 16, though 13 of those in 2019 came outside the Ezra corridor).

Take it all with a grain of salt. None of the recommendations have been approved at the council level.

Monday night could be an indication if there's an appetite for things like a permanently pedestrian-only Ezra Avenue.