The Timberline Snowmobile Club has received the go ahead to begin work on an unopened road allowance which will be used as a snowmobile trail.
The snowmobile club, based in Laurentian Valley, will begin using the extension of Zanders Road between Walford Road and B-Line Road as a snowmobile trail this winter.
Last month, council supported in principal the request to use the unopened road allowance, setting out 10 conditions to be met by the Timberline Snowmobile Club. As of Tuesday night, the township and club have signed the necessary agreement outlining the access to the road allowance.
A survey of the area began last week, but the club has been awaiting council’s approval before doing too much preliminary work.
Once the preferred corridor for the trail is identified, it will be taped off and the area will be cut by hand, explained Terry Vaudry, manager of Snow Country Ontario Federation of Snowmobile Clubs District 6 and Timberline volunteer, who attended Tuesday night’s council meeting to provide a progress report.
He assured council the necessary fencing will be erected between the trail nearby homes prior to the use of the trail.
He expects the fence will be in place within the next couple of weeks.
Council made it clear residents who expressed opposition to the trail should be given sufficient notice before heavy work in the area takes place.
The club is responsible for all costs associated with the proposal.
It has already secured funding under the National Trails Coalition for the first component of the project – the creation of the trail, and it will cover the environmental assessment and geo-technical study on the soils at the river.
The long-range plan is to build a fixed-link bridge over the Indian River. The process of securing the necessary permits for the bridge could take up to a year, so an ice crossing will be used until the bridge is built. Once the permits are in place, the club can begin the process of obtaining funding for that portion of the project.
“We can use the road allowance without the bridge, but the bridge will help the operation immensely,” Mr. Vaudry said.
In 2007 council approved the access to the eastern portion of the road allowance between B-Line Road and the Indian River. At that time, the club indicated its long-term objective was to incorporate the remaining section of the road allowance into the trail system.
Tina Peplinskie is a Daily Observer reporter
