Trans Canada Trail Gets Council Approval

Thursday, 24 September 2015 06:05

Oxford County has decided to support the Trans Canada Trail Extension

OXFORD COUNTY - After a somewhat hot and lengthy debate a section of the Trans Canada Trail will enter through Oxford County.

Permission has been granted by County Council to start construction of the trail in Tillsonburg. One of the Coordinators of the Ontario Trail, Jim Paterson, says the goal of the walkway is to connect Canadians from coast to coast. "Right now with the route that we do have planned, which includes the Oxford County section, it will include over 1000 communities. I think that county staff needs to start the public consultation process, and there is always a fear with adjacent land owners they've got their livelihood there, I can really appreciate that. It sounds like it is expensive to build but when you come right down to it is probably one of the cheapest forms of recreational activity people can take."

The project is expected to cost $870,000 with $560,000 coming from grants and the remaining $310,000 will be cost shared between Oxford County and the Town of Tillsonburg. Oxford will pick up the bulk of the remaining cost at 85% with the remaining 15% coming from Tillsonburg, however the town of Tillsonburg still has to approve the 15% at their next council meeting on September 28th. The project saw supporters fill Council Chambers last night, but John Vieraitis made the trip to Woodstock to oppose the project on behalf of fellow farmers. "These costs are not $870,000 they are more in the vicinity of $4 million or more. This is the type of stuff that is going to happen vandalism where they are stealing fuel, damaging tractors that are left there overnight, and we want to protect our boundaries. If they are going to build a trail they have to build it right." Councillors Trevor Birtch and Margaret Lupton initially wanted to see this issue pushed to the October 14th meeting, but after an hour of having various questions answered they gave their approval.

Councillor and Mayor of Tillsonburg Stephen Molnar has been pushing the project since the beginning and he feels this is all about connectivity. "This is a responsible opportunity to partner with our federal and provincial partners, and I think now is time to do it with a fiscal responsibility that we've demonstrated in the past at a county and a municipal level. We need to at least move along to the process so that we have something to engage our concerned citizens with." If council couldn't begin the project before the end of March 2016 nearly 50% of the government grants would disappear making it difficult to meet the 2017 deadline.