In an effort to satisfy both walkers and cyclists in the community, Sackville town council has made some adjustments to its proposed bike trails in the Waterfowl Park.
“I think this is a really fair compromise,” said Coun. Merrill Fullerton during council’s monthly meeting last Monday night.
With concerns voiced last month by seniors groups in the community about the potential risks involved in opening up the trails in the Waterfowl Park to cyclists, town staff and council went back to the drawing board to find a solution that might work for everyone.
In the latest proposal, which was unanimously approved by council last week, one of the pathways that was originally being considered for use as both a bike and walking path will now be removed as one of the designated trails. This trail is the one that runs from the park entrance next to the Drew Nursing Home over to the Trans-Canada trail on the opposite side of the park.
The other trail included in the proposal – the one that runs parallel to the highway from the rail bed of the Trans-Canada trail over to the town Visitor Information Centre – will now be open to cyclists.
The narrower boardwalk within the park will still remain off limits to bikes.
“Everything we can do to encourage healthy living, we need to do that as well. So I think this takes a balanced approach.” - – Coun. Merrill
“This way, there will be no bicycles allowed on the inside of the park whatsoever,” said director of parks and recreation facilities Todd Cole, who noted that the bicycle trail will provide a route around the perimeter of the park.
Coun. Margaret Tusz-King, who said council and staff received a lot of feedback over the trail concerns over the past month, hopes that these changes will satisfy residents on both sides of the issue, including the walkers who vented their concerns about bicycle control within the park.
Tusz-King pointed out, however, that the idea behind the bike trails stemmed from the community-driven Active Transportation Plan, which is to encourage healthy living.
“There’s a real interest to see people get on their bicycles and get outdoors,” she said.
Coun. Fullerton said there were definitely some compelling arguments from the seniors about why they were concerned about sharing their walking trails with cyclists; but he also argued that bikers should be able to enjoy the park as well.
“Everything we can do to encourage healthy living, we need to do that as well. So I think this takes a balanced approach.”
