Steve Alcock never stopped believing that Hunters Bay Trail would one day extend all the way to the other side of Highway 11, although he occasionally had doubts.<\/p>\n
He’s been an advocate for local trails for decades, sitting on both Muskoka’s Park to Park Trail Association and Huntsville’s Parks and Recreation Committee. And he’s been part of a committee working since 2003 to have Hunters Bay Trail extended past Orchard Park. That extension will be complete within the next few weeks and Alcock had the opportunity to step onto the pedestrian bridge at its start for the first time this week. His grin said it all.<\/p>\n
“I’ve been holding myself back,” he laughed. “This has been a long time dream of the trails committee and myself and we’re so close!”<\/p>\n
Getting it this far required dogged persistence, political will, patience, and some good timing. “Four councils kept on supporting the push, four mayors,” said Alcock. “This project could not have existed without a broad base of support and vision from some, political support, and a large public understanding that trails have a place in our plans and our future.” In particular, he singled out Don McCormick as another long-time supporter of the project.<\/p>\n
One of the most important pieces that had to fall into place was funding for the project. “Council would never have on their own been able to move forward on this,” said Alcock. But thanks to a legacy initiative following the 2015 Pan Am Games, there was suddenly a boost in funding to close the gaps in Ontario’s portions of the Trans Canada Trail (now called The Great Trail). The Hunters Bay Trail extension was one of those gaps.<\/p>\n
“We were one of the 12 projects in Ontario that they felt had to be done,” said Alcock. Add to that additional funds from the Trans Canada Trail organization, District support, and Huntsville’s parks reserve, and the project went from pie-in-the-sky to doable. “When such a large amount of funding is coming from other places, it\u2019s hard not to look at it.”<\/p>\n
Despite cost overruns due to Ministry of Transportation (MTO) requirements – the trail is within the Highway 11 corridor, which wouldn’t normally be allowed under Ontario’s Highway Traffic Act – Huntsville’s council decided earlier this year to proceed with the project<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n Alcock couldn’t be more pleased that they did, and hopes to see more such decisions in future.<\/p>\n I think it\u2019s incredibly important that the public domain be protected and expanded. Trails are linear parks… In the case of Hunters Bay, what is so unique is it\u2019s waterfront. We all know what\u2019s happening in terms of the cost of waterfront and the way it\u2019s being driven out of the reach of people who live in Huntsville. For me, the creation of waterfront trails was the creation of waterfront parks. We now have five kilometres of continuous waterfront park with a trail that goes through. That public domain is something we won\u2019t lose, no one will take that away from us.
\nSteve Alcock<\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\t\t