Mixed Attitudes on Trail Development

Jeff Green | Sep 20, 2012

 by Jule Koch and Jeff Green

It was not an auspicious beginning to a meeting in Sharbot Lake for adjacent landowners of the proposed K&P Trail, when right at the start of the meeting, County of Frontenac staff were made aware that they had failed to send letters of invitation to a number of landowners between Tichborne and Sharbot Lake.

The meeting was hosted by the county at Oso hall on Sept. 17, and it was intended to be a forum for landowners whose properties will be directly affected by the trail to air their views and concerns. As such, although the meeting was open to the general public, it was only publicized through invitations to adjacent landowners.

However, some Central Frontenac landowners showed up who had not received invitations and had only heard about the meeting from friends. Ann and Keith Howitt were among those and they said that when they heard about the meeting from a neighbour, they were concerned that the county “was holding secret meetings.”

The meeting was chaired by Frontenac County Economic Development Officer Anne Marie Young and South Frontenac Councilor Allan McPhail, who is chair of the Cataraqui Region Conservation Authority and a member of the K&P Trail Committee.

Young said the failure to send the invitations was an oversight and apologized. She said that another meeting to correct the mistake would be held.

Both Young and McPhail responded to the numerous concerns that were raised during the evening by saying that many more meetings would be held in the future and that there would be plenty of time to work out the issues.

In explaining the phases of the trail development, Young pointed to a green line on a map at the front of the room, and said that the green section, which runs south of Tichborne, is all owned by the county, with few exceptions.

This prompted landowner Daryl Kennedy, whose land is south of Tichborne, to say that he has checked with the registry office and the county does not own the section that crosses his land. “It will not cross there. Find another route,” he said bluntly.

Kennedy also spoke about expropriation, saying that land cannot be expropriated for recreational purposes, to which McPhail replied that although newspaper reports have mentioned expropriation, “I cannot see that any political leader would go for expropriation for the trail …. We need good neighbors or we can’t have a trail.”

McPhail’s stated position stands in direct contradiction to a recent decision by Frontenac County Council, which voted earlier this summer to commence expropriation proceedings in order to extend the trail. The County has been unable to come to a purchase agreement with Bob Leonard, who owns a small piece of the trail that runs through his property near Hartington.

Frontenac County Bylaw 2012-0019, which was passed by a vote of 7-1 on June 20, reads in part: “1.The Corporation of the County of Frontenac be and is hereby authorized to apply for approval to expropriate the following lands … Registered Owner: Robert Rodney Leonard;

2. The purpose of the application to expropriate the lands described in Section 1 shall be to link two sections of the Frontenac K&P Trail and thereby ensure its continued long-term viability as a public trail within the Frontenac County Trail System in accordance with the County of Frontenac Trails Master Plan.”

One of the issues of concern in both the Leonard case and in some the northern sections of the trail that were being discussed at the meeting in Sharbot Lake on Monday night and at a similar meeting in Verona last Thursday, September 13, have to do with situations where the trail effectively splits a piece of property and the owners of the property are concerned about access in the portion of their property that is blocked by the trail.

At the Sharbot Lake meeting, Allan McPhail said that the county was not going to limit farmers’ access to their properties.

The County has developed a trails master plan. It includes the following statement about access issues:

“Few landowners can access their property (bush lots, cottages, mobile homes, farmlands or hunting and fishing, etc.) only by crossing over trails. Access should continue where no other alternative can be provided. However, this access will be controlled via policy requiring permits/licenses, agreements and third party liability insurance. Working with the Townships’ planning departments, appropriate signage, gates and/or bollards will be erected. Future uses that require access over trails should not be permitted.”

Bob Leonard attended both the Sharbot Lake and Verona meetings. Although neither Anne Marie Young nor Allan McPhail would address his case directly, they offered assurances that the county would work with the landowners to settle their concerns about access and other issues. This prompted Leonard to reply several times that he wanted to see those assurances in writing.

Concerns were also raised about fencing, with several people pointing out that Bell Canada, the previous owner of the trail, had fixed the fences at no cost to the landowners. Anne-Marie Young replied that different options were possible, including that the county would supply the materials and the landowners do the installation.

Some Central Frontenac landowners voiced their support for the trail, including Ian Cameron, who said at one point, “The trail will go through, and it should go through.” Mike Thompson and Dave Raymond of Tichborne also said they supported the trail.

Frontenac County is planning to complete the trail section between Petworth Road (where it meets with the Leonard property) and the Craig Road north of Verona, in the next phase of development. Aside from the Leonard property issue, bypassing Prince Charles School in Verona is another issue that will have to be dealt with, as is the construction of a bridge over Hardwood Creek.

The current plan is for the trail to be non-motorised (with the exception of snow mobiles in winter) until it reaches Craig Road and then proceed as a multi-use trail permitting ATVs but not dirt bikes all the way to Sharbot Lake.

The K&P trail has been designated as part of the Trans Canada trail, which already runs east-west through Sharbot Lake. The Trans Canada trail is supposed to be completed by 2017, which is putting some pressure on the K&P process.