Town adopts active transportation plan
Long-term strategy aims to increase biking, hiking, and walking
Trent Hills has agreed to promote biking, walking, and hiking in the future, but support for the plan appears lukewarm should it require money from local taxpayers.
Two consultants presented their 164-page Active Transportation and Trails Master Plan to council on Tuesday, April 9 and the biggest response came when they inadvertently suggested the program would cost $25,000 per year for each municipal department.
A couple of pointed questions from councillors clarified that the cost would actually be $25,000 for just one department which would spearhead the plan. The relief was obvious and the sighs almost audible.
“I feel a little bit better now,” Councillor Rick English said. “You kind of scared me there.”
Consultant Claire Basinski, Senior Project manger at CIMA+ in Kitchener, walked the councillors through the basics of the plan, which was developed over the last year. She called it a blueprint for active transportation and trail use in the municipality which sets out 10 goals and recommendations for how to reach them.
But she quickly noted that many of the goals are 15 to 20 years down the road, calling the plan a “long-range strategy.”
It’s expected that much of the funding for expanded biking or hiking trails would come from other levels of government.
There were public sessions last year to discuss the plan and Basinski acknowledged that one major stumbling block will be co-ordinating use of the Trans-Canada Trail, since in this municipality the multi-use trail caters to ATV riders and is maintained by them. In many areas the trail is not easily ridden on a bicycle because it is too rough.
Since the No. 1 goal of the plan is to make Trent Hills a leader in touring cycling that could be a problem. Also, many of the roads that cyclists will use are county roads and any action on signage, paved shoulders, or bike lanes will require collaboration.
“We strongly believe that the Trans-Canada Trail is a great linkage,” Basinski said. “That’s why we made it the spine of our plan.”
Deputy Mayor Mike Metcalf noted that on page 89 of the report it outlines spending of $543,000 by Trent Hills as part of a $1.8 million upgrade to the Trans-Canada Trail.
“Councillor English that $25,000 isn’t going to go very far,” he said.
Metcalf asked how other municipalities have handled the need to co-ordinate such projects.
Basinski said she has prepared hundreds of similar plans and Trent Hills is one of the few that has planned to spend $25,000 each year to push the ideas forward.
“Ambition is definitely the word for this report but if we don’t have those in front of us, then we don’t have a goal to reach,” Metcalf said. “So, although they are ambitious, I think it is a good step to starting what our active trails and transportation should be.
“What we need to do is weave the thought process of this plan into the different departments. Much of what we do as a municipality involves roadways, involves getting people around. Going forward 10-20-30 years, it’s a change in the way of life and a change in the way we move.”
Jim Peters, Director of Planning and Development. said the municipality is already using the plan as a guide and is considering bike lanes and other activities as part of its assessment of new developments.
The snowmobile association maintains large parts of the heritage trails where I trail ride on my motorcycle. ATV and motorcyclists pay an annual fee of $150 to use the trails. We all maintain the trails, as best as we can. Removing fallen trees, large rocks etc. The trails are groomed perfectly for motorcycle, mountain biking and ATV use, as well as great for walking and horseback riding. If people want to ride street bicycles, I’d suggest the hundreds of miles of roads that are hard dirt and have very little vehicular traffic. ATV and trail motorcycles have very restricted riding areas. PEC has for some uncanny reason, banned all motorized vehicles on their lake trails, which came as a huge surprise to me and to the Recreational Trails Coalition of Ontario. Quote from the lady that I called at the Trails Coalition to asked her why this had happened. “I had no idea. I’m guessing the citiots have taken over and they’re imposing their way of life over ours”.