Although councillors support Wellington County’s Active Transportation Plan in principal, they acknowledge the potential heavy price the proposal carries.
On Nov. 19, Karen Armstrong and Sarah Wilhelm were before council promoting the final report from Sept. 2012.
The plan establishes the wider area network, connecting communities and linking major existing trails. The plan will cover over 1,000 off road (30%) and on road (70%) facilities, with a 20+ year time frame.
That report came with cost estimates for various municipalities – although presentations only presented information on the costs to the municipality where the presentation was made.
Mayor Joanne Ross-Zuj said work has been done all over the county on this.
“I’m very excited about this program and we’re getting to the point where everyone is participating.”
Armstrong said the intent of the 20-plus year plan is to connect all of Wellington County, Guelph and surrounding counties.
“We did a large public consultation process.”
Armstrong said over 718 responses were recieved.
She added that 36 per cent of the responses came from Centre Wellington.
“We’ve also sensed a real commitment from the population to move this forward.”
During the public consultation process there were six public meetings, two of which were in Centre Wellington.
From those meetings, Armstrong said there was a very strong emphasis on cycling.
She said with such a large geographic area, people tend to travel only relatively short distances as pedestrians.
Armstrong said there is also a recognition that the majority of trips would be within the urban centres, while cycling would be close to towns and nearby attractions throughout the county.
Wilhelm spoke more about the network and potential costs.
She said the spine routes and major loops connect the county.
“It also allows us to prioritize the implementation of the network.”
She said the east-west spine ties into the success of the Elora-Cataract Trailway and the Kissing Bridge Trail.
The north-south spine also travels through Centre Wellington.
Overall, this would create roughly 1,000km of on-road and off-road trails county wide.
Wilhelm commented that Centre Wellington already contains 82km of major multi-use trails and paved shoulders.
“This would be the highest amount of [existing] trails within the county, and this does not include secondary trails within parks or conservation authorities.”
She said there are a lot of good things to build upon in Centre Wellington.
Wilhelm said the proposed network relies heavily on paved shoulders and signed routes.
She added there would also be some new routes including pavement markings (sharrows).
That would bring the amount of trails to over 218km of active transportation facilities. She noted there are a number of recommended priorities within the document.
“There are a lot of things happening in Centre Wellington.”
One priority would be Gerrie Road in Centre Wellington to build up the north-south spine. Plus there is a priority placed on upgrades to the TransCanada trail which branches off Wellington County 21 which would then work its way south to the Kissing Bridge Trail.
Wilhelm added, this is one trail the county has been working on for a long time.
“It builds on something we already had planned.”
Paved shoulders would also be in the plans from Elora to the western boundary of Centre Wellington.
As Wilhelm presented cost estimates she said, “I’m not sure how all of you felt when you saw this.” The budget for Centre Wellington in the next 20 years is set at $6,278,780 – with overall costs roughly shared equally between the county and the township.
Wilhelm agreed it is a very significant amount.
She stressed this would potentially happen over 20 years – so that could end up happening over 20, 30 or 40 years for implementation.
Wilhelm said the bottom line is that “it is up to each municipality to decide if and when money is spent to make this project come to fruition.”
While she did not want to undermine the consultant cost estimates, she noticed the cost estimates are high for certain portions of the project.
“I really do expect some of those numbers would come down – especially if there is partnering – such as with service clubs.”
At the same time, projected costs in the township are much lower over the next decade, with route signage pegged at $6,520, signed routes (marked as shared routes/sharrows) costing another $12,600 and paved shoulders taking up the majority of the cost at just under $400,000 – to install paved shoulders on Gerrie Road.
Wilhelm said a lot of work remains on a cost sharing formula with the county on certain aspects of the project.
Ross-Zuj said this has been an exciting journey and is cutting edge as part of local infrastructure. “I know the dollar figures are huge, but if we get this into our mindset and the way we start to think to develop our communities.”
"And when investors come to our community we have this in place."
Councillor Fred Morris asked whether any of this involved land acquisition.
Armstrong said the funds are only for construction of trails.
Wilhelm said a big part of the costs for Centre Wellington would be the Elora to Guelph trail, which the county had always intended to be the lead on.
Councillor Kelly Linton considered the plan a great document with solid rationale.
“Even though the cost is big, it gives us a road map to put into place – as funds become available.”
CAO Andy Goldie noted that Centre Wellington’s trail master plan had been on hold pending the outcome of the Wellington County plan.
Now, work will be done to tweak that document to bring it back to council in the new year.
“We’re the only municipality in Wellington which has gone to this next level.”
Councillor Mary Lloyd asked whether the local trail plans would be in addition to the $400,000 proposed through the county plan.
Goldie said “we’re going to have to look at both plans and cost them out reasonably.”
However he noted that local trails, to some degree, are lower in cost and some costs can be recouped through development agreements.
Centre Wellington voted to supported in principle the Wellington County Active Transportation Plan final report and that staff be directed to bring forward the recommendations pertaining to Centre Wellington as part of the annual budget process.
