HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuron Expositor, 2015-06-24, Page 3Wednesday, June 24, 2015 • Huron Expositor 3
Landowners raise concerns about planned trail
Marco Vigliotti
Postmedia Network
Local municipalities in
Huron County remain on
the sidelines of a brewing
spat between rural land-
owners and a private firm
over a contentious project
to transform an unused
railway line into an expan-
sive nature trail.
Huron East Mayor
Bernie MacLellan says
both the municipality and
county have had no
involvement in the
approval process for the
proposed Goderich to
Guelph Rail Trail, which,
if built, would stretch over
the length of a 127 kilome-
tre now abandoned rail
line that runs between the
namesake cities.
The comments were
prompted by a presenta-
tion to Huron East council
at its June 15 meeting by a
delegation of concerned
farmers with land adja-
cent to the trail, who cau-
tion that the proposed
development will increase
costs for them.
The discussion about
the project, however,
should be focused around
the owner of the unused
line, the Ontario govern-
ment, and G2G Inc., the
private company develop-
ing the trail, MacLellan
says.
"This group, G2G Inc.,
has nothing to do with the
county or the local munic-
ipality," he told the land-
owners, adding that the
province would ultimately
have final say on who gets
the lease for the rail line.
The landowners group
worries that the planned
trail would cut into farm
revenues, as they would
be forced to employ new
safety measures to
account for the increased
public access.
Neil Mitchell, one of the
landowners, says insur-
ance companies have
already indicated that
some farmers would have
to carry additional liabil-
ity coverage if the trail is
approved.
The routine passage of
heavy farm machinery over
the abandoned line repre-
sents a significant safety
consideration that G2G Inc.
has yet to address, he adds.
"How do we prepare for
and prevent potential
accidents? How can emer-
gency personnel effec-
tively respond to a call for
help on the trail if they do
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not where the victim is or
how to get to the individ-
ual?" Mitchell asked.
He also raised concerns
that a fence would have to
be erected along the trail
that he says would impact
the passage of machinery
and could cost taxpayers
upwards of $500,000.
Mitchell stresses that
the farmers have raised
their concerns, including
how misuse of the trail
would be handled, to the
county but have only been
met with silence save for
two letters from the plan-
ning department.
The announcement that
the full trail would open to
the public on July 1 of this
year caught them by sur-
prised, as it preceded the
signing of a lease for the
line, he says.
"To insure the success
of any project, community
involvement is vital, yet
G2G Inc. has never con-
tracted us as adjacent
landowners," Mitchell
said.
MacLellan, though, says
G2G representatives
acknowledged to county
council in a meeting that
the announcement of the
impending opening was
"premature" and "a little
misleading" in terms of
what they view as the
whole trail.
In addition to Huron
East, the landowners have
made or inquired about
making presentations to
several other lower -tier
municipalities in Huron
County in a move that the
county's planning director
said left him scratching
his head.
Scott Tousaw says he is
"confused" as to why they
would say they're not
being engaged by the
county when several of the
landowners are members
of the county's working
group about the proposed
trail.
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