A new Cabot Head Trail project has made its debut to Northern Bruce Peninsula council and is proceeding to its next steps.
During a council meeting on July 12, presentations were made by representatives from three local charities who look after the closed area and described the road’s current state.
The charities, Bruce Peninsula Bird Observatory, Friends of Cabot Head Lighthouse and Bruce Peninsula Biosphere Association identified they are unable to fulfill their missions and are in financial peril, while also finding uncontrolled access to the road is a problem.
With no visitor revenue coming into the area, the local lighthouse has also fallen into disrepair.
The goal of the charities is to look at the best way to convert the road into a wilderness trail for hikers and cyclists, as well as create a self-sustaining recreational asset for the municipality.
This transformation would also support the three charities and provide site access to the area.
The charities are using the $124,000 they received in Dec. of 2020 from the Ontario Trillium Foundation to support their vision.
Between Jan. and June 2021, stakeholder engagement sessions were organized by the charities over ZOOM to learn about and address the primary concerns held about the trail design and its operation.
Then following on July 1, a vote indicated the groups were in favour of a proposal by the local Dyer’s Bay Property Owners Association, who took part in the consultations.
The proposal includes three parts:
-controlling access and visitation by restricting visitations to only hikers and bikers, with no vehicular traffic allowed beyond the trail gate entrance, except for workers and to perform daily monitoring to prevent trespassing.
-protecting the character of Dyer’s Bay by not allowing any parking lot expansions, marketing, shuttle service and to perform reviews and evaluations
-supporting the rights of the local landowners by getting their approval of the general concept and any changes, and to have them on site during construction and design
In generating revenue for the charities, they are looking at two potential sources by either enacting parking fees or setting up access fees to fund the operations and going trail maintenance. A portion of the money going into a reserve fund for future trail work and repairs. Discussions with the municipality of these approaches are still underway.
To move forward with the work, the design and engineering components of the plan need to be completed as well as the cost projects for both the construction and operation of the site.
Community consultations will continue while the trail management plan and other community protections become finalized.
The charities are asking the municipality for additional staff time to finalize the proposal and plan.
The plan is being accelerated to be completed by the end of this year, so the Trillium grant funding will not be forfeited.
Mayor Milt McIver notes the charities still have a lot of work to do with the limited time they have to do it, before the funding from the Trillium Foundation is no longer available.
“One of the main things for council is what is our involvement, what is our responsibility at the end of this project and also making sure the Dyer’s Bay community are completely involved in discussions and agree to the plan put forward by the working group,” says McIver.
When asked what council’s overall opinion of the project was, McIver noted they are just waiting to see what the final plan is for the project. When it is brought back before council towards the end of the summer they will take a vote on it.
“I think it is an important and interesting concept and one that could become very popular and I think that’s why the Dyer’s Bay community are really involved in this project,” says McIver.
