With an eye on expanding and enhancing the city’s trails system as the population grows, city council is set to ponder a new trails master plan next month.
The plan, if adopted as-is, would see efforts focus on providing off-street, two-way travel for pedestrians, cyclists and others using “humanpowered” transportation options.
“The (trails master plan) sets a plan to create a better connected, accessible and easy-to-use trail system that allows the community to travel and get immersed in nature,” said Tiffany Hanna, city park planner, in a news release. “This plan achieves all of that by working with community partners to plan, build and maintain our trail system as Guelph grows.”
The draft trails master plan will be presented to council’s committee of the whole on June 7, beginning at 2 p.m. – streamed live at guelph.ca/live – with potential ratification on June 28.
The city currently has more than 130 km of trails and multi-use paths, notes a staff report which recommends the draft plan be adopted.
With council’s backing, the draft plan would see new trails created and existing ones expanded, along with the development of new design guidelines, updated wayfinding signs, formation of a trails committee and expanded winter maintenance.
The 10-year capital forecast calls for $28.2 million to be spent on new trails, with another $3.05 million for improvements to existing trails and $927,000 to “improve operational efficiency through new policies, procedures and studies.”
“As neighbourhoods become denser and community concerns about environmental impacts of transportation rise, trails will help support more users who choose active transportation,” the staff report states. “A well-planned approach is needed to steer the city in the right direction and set priorities for the next 10 years.”
The current trails master plan – used to guide how the city plans, designs, funds, builds and maintains the trails network – was approved in 2005. The proposed update follows three rounds of community engagement that garnered about 1,700 responses.
The deadline to register as a delegate or make a written submission for the June 7 committee of the whole meeting is June 4 at 10 a.m. To register, visit guelph.ca/delegation, call 519-837-5603 or email [email protected].
