Heather Wright
Special to The Journal
The council of neighbouring Plympton-Wyoming doesn’t mind a waterfront trail going through the community; it just doesn’t want it passing through residential areas.
The Waterfront Trail project is linking up cycling and walking trails all around the Great Lakes. The trail already goes from the Toronto area to Lakeshore, near Windsor.
The group now hopes to extend the trail to Grand Bend this year encompassing 180 kilometers of trails in Lambton County.
Marlaine Koehler, executive director of the project, asked Plympton-Wyoming council recently if some of the municipality’s roads, including residential areas near Bright’s Grove, could be used.
“Where there are trails, we would use existing trails and co-designate them respecting the local branding … Where there wasn’t a trail, we used the quietest road,” she said.
That didn’t sit well with town council.
“We support what you’re doing in principal, but we don’t want to turn our residential streets into a trail,” said Mayor Lonny Napper.
“We have residential streets there and million dollar homes. I don’t think the people built the home with the idea their homes would be a tourist attraction.”
Coun. Netty McEwen objected to the use of Egremont Road, which she said is too narrow for the cyclist already using it. “There are a lot of cyclists on those roads, and they’re the biggest nuisance there is,” she said. “The way they are there is nothing but a nuisance.”
Some councillors suggested Koelhler locate the trail route on Lakeshore Road. And Napper had another idea.
“The Howard Watson Trail goes from Sarnia to Camlachie – that would be the way we would want to go,” the mayor said.
The five-kilometre section of the Watson trail that runs through Plympton-Wyoming, between Mandaumin Road and Camlachie, is badly degraded and needs expensive repairs.