HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1989-01-25, Page 20PAGE 20. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 25, 1989.
Rails-to-Trails support building across Ontario
Interest is growing across
southern Ontario in the possibility
of converting abandoned railway
lines into a network of linear parks
and public trails which could
provide recreational “green
space” for generations to come.
The movement took off last
November with the formation of the
Ontario Trails Council (OTC) at
Ballantrae, made up of executive
representatives of 14 different trail
user groups representing nearly
50,000 members, plus government
representatives and other interest
ed individuals.
The OTC will be the singular
Municipal Affairs
to study Blyth by-law
Continued from page 1
meetings.
But Councillor Medd was ada
mant, saying he felt five working
days should be enough time to have
the minutes prepared. He explain
ed he found it necessary for him to
have the minutes well in advance of
the meeting to prepare. He was
supported by Councillor Dave Lee
who said he had trouble waiting
four to five weeks to get the
minutes.
Mrs. Grubb said she felt the one
week deadline was ‘‘pretty tight”
pointing out there was a lot of work
to be done in the first two weeks of
the month, including PUC bills that
are being paid. She suggested two
weeks would be a little more
reasonable as a deadline. Still the
motion passed unanimously with
Reeve Albert Wasson not voting.
Mrs. Grubb brought the subject
up again the following evening
however. She said she was con
cerned that no member of council
had come in to the office and asked
what daily or monthly obligations
of the office staff was before
proposing the amendment. No one
had shown respect for the office
staff, she said.
Councillor Medd said he still felt
he needed the time to see the
minutes in order to prepare for the
next meeting.
The time limit was too strict,
Mrs. Grubb argued. ‘‘My thought
of a council is thatthey understand
and help municipal st^ff, ” she
said. She called the proposal ‘‘just
not fair’ .
Councillor Lee said that he had
investigated the situation in Hullett
and found the minutes there were
typed up the next day and available
to any councillor within a minimum
of three days after the meeting.
But, argued the clerk-treasurer,
the workload in a village office is
totally different than in a township
office where more people are
coming in the door. “I totally agree
that the sooner done the better but
this is too short (a period). ‘‘My
concern is that with the attitude
there has been (with council) that if
it isn’t done the way this is written
it just gives you another handle to
come in and yell and scream,” she
said.
Reeve Wasson interjected to say
that he had a definite concern
about the co-operation of council
lors that he had mentioned back at
the all-candidates meeting before
the municipal election. “Because
the former council was a compas
sionate and considerate group, it
worked”, he said. If someone had
come in to the clerk’s office and
explained his concerns and tried to
work out a solution then something
would have been worked out to the
benefit of everyone, he said.
Councillor Medd insisted that
the amendment had been present
ed and approved by council and he
wanted it to remain in place.
Then, said Reeve Wasson, he
would take the motion to the
voice for all potential trail users in
the province, including hikers,
cyclists, cross-country skiers,
equestrians and others.
‘‘The 1,500 km. of abandoned
railway corridors in the province
present an unprecedented oppor
tunity to establish an integrated
multi-purpose trail network,” said
Mavis McCallum of Stouffville,
protem chairman of the OTC.
The movement gained impetus
in late December when Ontario
Minister of Transportation Ed Ful
ton announced the formation of an
interministerial committee to con
sider provincial acquisition of
DAVE MEDD
Ministry of Municipal Affairs “be
cause we’re obviously at an im
pass”. Is this the kind of co-opera
tion you want on council, he
asked Councillor Medd.
Councillor Ken Brown tried to
find a middle ground between the
two positions, seeking to find a
compromise between Councillor
Medd’s position and something the
clerk-treasurer would feel happier
with but none could be found.
Reeve Wasson said that “at the
present time it is so far out of
keeping with how it (council co
operation) ought to be that I feel I
have to go to the ministry,” he
said.
“You’re saying,’’ Councillor
Medd said, “that as a member of
council we don’t have the right to
change a by-law unless everybody
agrees.” The Reeve said he felt
council should work together.
“What is the purpose of having a
council if we, are not going to be
allowed to make motions?” Coun
cillor Medd asked.
Councillor Lee wanted to know
how long it would take for the
Ministry of Municipal Affairs to
reply to the situation. He didn’t
want six months down the road for
council still to be looking for an
answer.
“I’m seeing that there is a
tremendous change in the expecta
tions of council,” Reeve Wasson
said. If it takes time for the
situation to be settled, it would be a
good investment, the Reeve said.
“I think it all could have been
avoided if you have talked to us,”
Mrs. Grubb said. “I have feelings
too. Do you actually know what we
do (in the office)?”
Councillor Medd said he felt it
was the proper way for him to
present his motion and he wasn’t
changing his mind.
Early this week Reeve Wasson
said he had contacted the Ministry
and officials had asked for a copy of
the village’s procedural by-law for
study. The officials had also offered
to meet with the council to discuss
the situation.
“My feeling is,” the Reeve said,
“if we’re going to open the
procedural by-law up we’re not
going to stop with the amendments
proposed.”
abandoned rail lines for public use.
“These vacant rights-of-way
have the potential to be developed
by the province for a variety of
uses,” Mr. Fulton said, “but if we
do not act quickly, we may be faced
with the permanent loss of these
valuable tracts of land.”
The chief fours of the burgeoning
movement is the Goderich-to-
Guelph line through Auburn,
Blyth, Walton, Milverton and El
mira, which was officially closed by
the Canadian Pacific Railway on
January 1. A number of special
interest groups along the 80-mile
corridor have come together to
form the Rails-to-Trails Steering
Committee, under the umbrella of
the OTC, to investigate the feasi
bility of rail conversions in their
own communities.
Locally, the conversion move
ment moved into high gear recently
with the Goderich-based Maitland
Trails Association’s (MTA)
appointment of an ad hoc commit
tee to pursue the idea in the
Goderich area. As well, the Huron
County Planning and Development
department has written to the CPR,
with copies to the appropriate
Ontario ministries, to ask for a
moratorium on the disposal of the
section of rail line which passes
through the county, in order to
Editor's letter
Continued from page 4
sation. As a reporter you feel an
obligation to report the truth about
what is happening at the meeting
(and you know that the mere words
said won’t do that) but you can’t lay
your finger on it.
Then there’s the case where
someone gets up at a meeting and
makes a speech in which he thinks
he’s saying something but, per
haps through a lack of verbal skills,
he isn’t getting that message out at
all. Afterward he is apt to be sure
the reporter was either incompe
tent or out to deliberately distort
the truth.
It doesn’t happen as often in
smaller centres as in big-time
politics but there are still some
times when people are out to use
the media to build up their own
prestige, or sometimes their own
business or social interest. It’s a
time of tough decisions for the
reporter: is the item newsworthy
enough to go along with the person
even though you figure you are
being manipulated, or do you have
to find a gentle way of letting the
person down.
Back at the office, in the writing
of the event you covered there are
more decisions. You have, for
instance, the direct quotes of
people yelling at each other but do
you print them. Will it only stir up
more ill feelings and accusations
that the newspaper is just trying to
be controversial (people always
claim we’re trying to sell more
newspapers but over the years I’ve
yet to be able to find any correla
tion between what is printed in any
given newspaper and the number
of copies that are sold on news
stands).
And finally, even as the paper is
being put together there are deci
sions. Almost always there is more
material begging for space in the
paper than there is space to fill. It
means something has to get left out
and if you leave out the report of
this or that club, you’re giving a
direct insult to the club and to the
press reporter for the club. You
have to decide which picture and
which stories deserve front page
coverage and which should go
inside.
These decisions get made minute
after minute throughout a 50 to 60
hour work week for a small town
reporter. So if our reporters some
times look tired, maybe you can
have a little understanding.
allow local user groups to explore
its conversion potential.
Cindy Fisher of the Planning
Department said that letters had
also been sent to councils in both
Goderich and Blyth, as well as in
Colborne, Hullett, East Wawa-
nosh, Morris and Grey Townships
asking for their support in request
ing a delay on the disposal of rail
line property within their boundar
ies.
The MTA’s committee meets
every Tuesday evening at the
Goderich Library, where it is
currently preparing a brief to
present at a major Rails-to-Trails
meeting in Linwood on February
25. More information may be
obtained by calling the MTA’s Joan
Vanden Broek at 524-2845. Mrs.
Van den Broek adds that all
potential trail user groups should
seize the opportunity to add their
voices to the local lobby, and notes
that February 17 is the registration
deadline, for the Linwood meeting.
A number of studies done on rail
conversions in other parts of Cana
da and in the USA and Britain have
shown that the projects have never
failed to generate both tourist and
local dollars for the adjoining
communities, often returning a
greater benefit than did the railway
itself while in operation in those
communities. An economic input
study done on a Wisconsin conver
sion found that 6.4 per cent of all
retail sales made in communities
along the way were to trail users,
while a second study in the Cape
Cod area found that its 19.5 mile
linear park is attracting more than
500,000 visitors a year, while
numerous tourist-related business
es have sprung up and are flourish
ing in the area.
“The (linear park) idea is an
opportunity too good to miss for
tourist centres such as Goderich
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We would like toexpressa sincere thankyoutoall of
our friends, staff and patrons who supported the
Triple K Restaurant over the past 15 years.
It has a been a pleasure serving you.
It is our hope that you will continue your support
with the new owner, Albert Wasson. We wish him
every success in the future.
TRIPLE K RESTAURANT
and Blyth, but we must act fast in
order to ensure the (rail lines) are
not sold out from under us,” Mrs.
Van den Broek says.
Her warning is highlighted by a
decision made by North Dumfries
Township at a committee-of-the-
whole meeting on January 16 to
purchase a 23-km. portion of the
abandoned CNR right-of-way be
tween Lynden and Cambridge “on
behalf of its 55 adjoining property
owners and ratepayers who are
opposed to its conversion into a
public hiking trail.”
Grand Valley Rail Trust repre
sentative Paul Eagles argues that
the municipality had acted unfairly
in offering to purchase the property
through a “sweetheart deal with
only a few in on it,” adding that the
deal reserves the land for the
exclusive use of a few large
landowners along the track.
Mr. Eagle’s group recently re
ceived a $100,000 anonymous don
ation to buy and maintain the
narrow strip of land through North
Dumfries, and he said that the
Trust would earn $10,000 annually,
plus raise an additional $10,000 in
Wintario funding, if it were allowed
to maintain and police the trail.
But Mayor Joe Martens of North
Continued on page 22
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