St. Patrick’s Days is just a few days away, but the City of Waterloo and Waterloo regional police say there will be an increase in the number of officers in the university district this weekend and in the days ahead.

Last year, police said between 20,000 and 25,000 people gathered on Marshall Street. Ezra Avenue has also been a popular spot where thousands of students gather to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.

“Waterloo regional police have been working closely with emergency services and community partners over the past several months to ensure a well coordinated response leading up to St. Patrick’s Day,” a spokes person for Waterloo regional police said in a statement to CBC News.

The statement added police have worked with the student unions at the nearby universities and colleges, as well as provided education to students around the Waterloo’s updated nuisance bylaw.

“We encourage those who choose to celebrate to do safely and respectfully and remind the community that there will be an increased police presence in the university district and uptown Waterloo on St. Patrick’s Day and throughout the weekend leading up to it,” police said.

Fencing up on Ezra Avenue

Fences have also been set up along Ezra Avenue in an effort to deter large, unsanctioned parties spilling onto the sidewalks and roadway over the coming days.

Cari Van Nieker, director of corporate communications with the City of Waterloo, told CBC News Ezra Avenue is a “long, narrow corridor” and large gatherings there can make it difficult for emergency crews to get through.

“Large crowds can be uncontrollable and there can be a safety concern for people who chose to attend,” she said.

“Having the fence up on Ezra prevents a crowd from gathering in a space where it would potentially very challenging to access with emergency services vehicles.”

Van Nieker said the fencing on Ezra doesn’t mean large gatherings are allowed in other parts of the city.

“We don’t want these large, unsanctioned gatherings anywhere in the City of Waterloo,” she said.

Additions to city’s nuisance bylaw

To further deter large gatherings from happening this weekend, the city is also putting in place a Community Safety Event for Saturday and Tuesday March 17, which is St. Patrick’s Day.

The event means there will be no street parking allowed on city streets in the university district those days. Van Nieker said bylaw officers will also be out enforcing the city’s nuisance bylaw, which has some additions.

She said people will now be ticketed for intentionally blocking sidewalks or roadways that force a street closure, blocking roads or sidewalks when a nuisance is being created and remaining in those areas after police or bylaw officers tell a person to leave for public safety reasons.

“Officers will be laying ticketing charges over the weekend and the coming days and at any point in time if people are not following our nuisance bylaw,” she said.