Public Input Wanted

Friday, 21 March 2014 07:59

Burgess/Standard Tube Park Master Plan outlined to council Thursday by UTRCA.

WOODSTOCK -- City Council will now entertain a 90-day public consultation phase for residents to offer their comments on Burgess/Standard Tube Park master plan.

The City purchased Burgess Farm for parkland, before selling the land space to the Upper Thames River Conservation Authority in 1981. A further land donation by Standard Tube Canada Inc. netted another 50 acres for recreational development. While trails have existed for the past 10 years, the new master plan will see both managed spaces become better served for the community.

The project was driven by the expiry of past farm leases and the pressure to add new recreational trails to the west end of the city. Council ended up recommending a 90-day public consultation period to help with interpreting or adding to the park's master plan which was originally set for only 30 days.

Cathy Quinlan, Terrestrial Biologist with The Upper Thames River Conservation Authority agrees with adding the extra time.

"People will have more time to go online and look at the report, and digest it so that by late Spring when it gets released it will encourage people to go out and use the trails to see for themselves what a jewel this place really is."

A footbridge over the Thames River has also been discussed as a future amenity, and while Quinlan says the cost of adding the footbridge component isn't factored into what was discussed at council. The hope is that it can be included sometime in the future.

"I think some previous dollar estimates that were sketched out five or ten years ago were in the $250,000 dollar range, so that's anybody's guess what that is today, so that will need to be explored."

The existing trail system contains four access points, but the conservation authority hopes to increase points of access, along with adding improved signage and perhaps joining shoreline trails to a footbridge over the Thames River.

The total cost for naturalization is estimated at $378-thousand dollars. Quinlan says the hope is to have portions funded all or in part between multiple partners such as local service clubs charitable foundations local businesses and government. The City's 90 public consultation on the trail master plan is likely to begin in the coming weeks.

The 90-day public consultation period which was approved by council is set to begin in the coming weeks and should conclude by the end of June.