Update on City of Edmonton’s Terwillegar Footbridge and Recreational Trails Plan

Report by Shirley Coulson and Patsy Cotterill

At the public hearing April 8 at City Hall Executive Committee of City Council agreed that the proposal, made by Shirley Coulson and Patsy Cotterill on behalf of the ENC, to locate the North Trail in Oleskiw River Valley along the escarpment rather than along the riverine forest (as per the plan), was worth considering, so this portion of the plan was not approved and was sent back to the administration (Parks Planning) for re-examination and a report at a later date. Cherry Dodd of the Edmonton Naturalization Group also spoke in favour this proposal.

The ENC proposal was supported by various councilors, the mountain biking fraternity and members of the audience, the consensus being that the suggested trail alignment made more sense than one close to the river edge, providing trail continuity for people while being the least environmentally intrusive.

Kudos to Shirley, for her persistence and dedication to this issue; it is rare that one gets a win when a civic project has got this far in the process. Possibly ENC owes a debt of gratitude also to the bikers, whose publicity no doubt helped paint the picture of controversy among the public and encouraged Council to hold the public hearing. (This was a non-statutory public hearing, meaning that it was voluntary on Council’s part.)

A further environmental impact assessment of the proposed new North Trail alignment will have to be done, and Shirley and Patsy hope that this time the environmental community, including the ENC, and the public in general, will be invited to have input!

Terwillegar Park and Recreational Trails plan

April 8, 2014  –  River Valley Room     City of Edmonton

The agenda for the public hearing on this plan is now available on the City of Edmonton’s website at http://sirepub.edmonton.ca/sirepub/mtgviewer.aspx?meetid=1203&doctype=AGENDA

The Terwillegar Park plan will begin hearing at 1:30 p.m. (although the hearing itself starts at 9:30 p.m. as advertised), so anyone interested in attending to hear or present at this issue, should turn up at the River Valley Room in City Hall at about 1 p.m.

All documents (pdfs) relating to this issue are listed and are clickable to the right of the agenda column online when the agenda item is highlighted.  There are more documents than most people will have time to read, but it is worth scrolling through the Environmental Impact Assessment and taking a look at the sections on the environment as well as some of the appendices that show the trail alignments and set out the process and rationale for the options chosen. (Ignore methodology and background literature).

The Site Location Study attempts to show that the project is in line with the City’s various policies and plans. It concludes that the plan will contribute significantly to the Ribbon of Green Master Plan and “will result in increased use of the area and create a unique experience for visitors by providing an extended trail system for play, leisure and recreation.”

A presentation will be made arguing that the proposed trail alignment in Oleskiw has been chosen solely to promote such play and recreation but does the most amount of environmental damage, does not take into account future environmental impact of vastly increased human usage, and generally does not give sufficient emphasis to the integrity and functionality of the river valley as habitat and corridor for vegetation and wildlife. 

For more information contact Patsy Cotterill at:  nutmeg@planet.eon.net 

or Shirley Coulson at: shirleys_mail@shaw.ca