Councillor presses for action for WEBC third phase

Two phases of the bicycle trails and the Libro Centre are done with a member of town council looking for approvals for the third phase.

A notice of motion was issued instead of immediate direction but the goal remains to get the remaining trails done sooner rather than later.

Councillor Don McArthur said he attended the parks master plan open house the previous week and chatted with representatives from the Windsor-Essex Bike Community (WEBC).

“They were a bit discouraged to discover government moves slowly. If they hadn’t realized by now, they realized it then,” said McArthur. “The Libro (Centre) master plan is not going to be approved until later on in the summer. From their perspective, it’s too late in the summer for their needs.”McArthur said town council had given WEBC conditional approval to collect donations and plan for the Phase III of the trail, but not to let them actually build the third phase until the master plan was complete.

Director of parks, facilities and recreation Heidi Baillargeon stated administration is aiming to bring the parks master plan to council for final approval July 14.

“We did meet with the WEBC group. They came out to the open house,” she said. “We had 247 responses to the public survey, which is quite a few. We had quite a few people out that evening, all very positive feedback.”

McArthur said there was good information at the parks master plan open house, with a master plan for every park. He added “it’s a long time” from WEBC’s perspective and wondered if there was any conflicts with getting the work done.

Baillargeon said WEBC said it is “a very eager group” and didn’t see or hear any conflicts. Comments and suggestions from public that day are still being worked through by the town and its consultants.

“From the way I see it, there’s a risk and a reward,” said McArthur. “The risk in waiting is that we deny our residents the opportunity to use these trails in the summer. We deny WEBC the opportunity to use the Phase III trails for their wildly popular youth nights. It also means we would force these volunteers to actually build these trails in the heat and humidity of an Amherstburg summer rather than the cool temperatures they’re enjoying now.”

McArthur moved a motion to give WEBC final approval to build the third phase, but Mayor Michael Prue cautioned there is no report before council at that meeting on which to base the request. Clerk Kevin Fox suggested making it a notice of motion, with Prue stating it could come back soon.

“I’m just trying to do what’s right,” said Prue, who ruled McArthur’s motion out of order due to the lack of report.

McArthur said while WEBC has “bent over backwards for us,” he accepted Prue’s ruling as being procedurally correct. It was put forth as a notice of motion for the next meeting.

Councillor presses for action for WEBC third phase

By Ron Giofu