Sackville’s portion of the Trans Canada Trail was the belle of the ball at Tantramar council’s last regular meeting, with two public presentations asking council to move ahead with plans that would see the trail developed or maintained in different ways.

The Tantramar Pedway Group and Quad NB each put in requests to Tantramar Council, some of which were at cross purposes.

Christina DeHaas and Jeff MacKinnon represented the Tantramar Pedway Group, and told council they’d been working for 15 years on a plan to erect a pedestrian and bike friendly connection across the TransCanada highway, where it bisects the Trans Canada Trail.

Christina DeHaas and Jeff MacKinnon of the Tantramar Pedway Group presenting to council. Image: Youtube screencap

Currently, the group has secured a private donation of $1 million to put towards the pedway project, and also has a commitment from Algonquin Bridge, a division of the AIL Group, to build the project at cost, which was estimated at about $3 million a year ago.

DeHaas says other funding possibilities are available, but there’s a commitment needed from the town. “The way to move forward is for council to direct staff to explore the capital funding opportunities that leverage this million dollar commitment that we currently have,” said DeHaas.

Dehaas and the Pedway Group are asking the town to take over ownership of the pedway project, including assigning staff to look into funding opportunities, committing to maintaining and insuring it, and also entering into a land use agreement with the Department of Natural Resources, who own the Trans Canada Trail lands.

This is not the first time there’s been a million dollars available for this project. DeHaas told council that 15 years ago Sackville lost out on $1 million in funding that ended up going to PEI’s cycle trail infrastructure. “We can’t lose this incredible donation a second time and the window of opportunity is running out,” said DeHaas.

DeHaas told council that funding through the Trans Canada Trail organization would mean no capital investment required by the municipality, but there is a caveat. “The Trans Canada Trail is willing to try again by funding construction and longer term maintenance if the trail remains non-motorized in perpetuity,” said DeHaas.

Trail non-motorized in theory, but used by ATVs

Technically the trail is now deemed non-motorized, but there’s either a lack of maintenance or an excess of vandalism of the signage and gates that would inform and keep ATV drivers out. MacKinnon told council that about 10 years ago, when NB Trails was taking care of maintenance, the trail was truly non-motorized. Now the group is asking Tantramar to negotiate a land use agreement with the Department of Natural Resources, and to take over responsibility for keeping the signs and gates in place.

“There was very little there that Trails NB did, they simply did a few good things really well. They had some signage in place, they had some gates, and it was obvious that it was a non motorized trail,” said MacKinnon. “Now you go out there and it’s not obvious… I do have friendly conversations with a lot of ATV drivers that I encounter on the trail. And they’re just not aware.” MacKinnon said there are low cost options that could reestablish the non-motorized status of the trail if Tantramar takes over under a land use agreement.

The need for non-motorized status is where there is a potential conflict with another group who presented last week: Quad NB, whose local group is the Tantramar ATV Club. Quad NB president Jacques Ouellette requested council write a letter of support for ATV access to the Trans Canada Trail from Donald Harper Drive on towards Midgic, and offered to take on getting the funding to maintain it. He told councillors he wanted to twin the trail, to allow for parallel ATV and pedestrian and cyclist use.

Quad NB president Jacques Ouellette presenting to Tantramar council. Image: Youtube screencap

“We’re asking for your support to make it a multi-use trail,” said Quad NB president Jacques Ouellette. “The way it works elsewhere in the province, when it becomes a multi use trail, the local club is responsible for the maintenance and any costs related to the trail once it’s correctly built.”

But the cost to build a twinned trail is not clear. Ouellette says that Quad NB has built parallel, multiuse trails in collaboration with the Acadian Peninsula Véloroute, a massive network of 310 kilometres of paved bikeways connecting towns and tourist attractions on the Acadian Peninsula. But Tantramar ATV Club president Don Green told Warktimes that twinning the trail would be impractical, and Plan 360 Regional Trails coordinator Marc Leger echoed that concern, estimating such a project could run in the tens of millions, due to the nature of the rail bed and the landscape it runs through.

Green told CHMA via email that a shared lease of the trail could still work, and cited the example of a former railbed trail from Oxford to Tatamagouche. The reason the club wants access, writes Green, is to help the roughly 200 club members connect to the Port Elgin section of the trail, which they currently lease from the Department of Natural Resources. “There is no direct route out of Sackville or to Sackville,” writes Green. “As it is now you must travel a long detour via Memramcook and through Cap Pelé to reach our current lease of the railbed.”

Quad NB requests increased access to streets

It’s not just hikers and bikers that Ouellette is hoping to share space with. Quad NB also requested that Tantramar expand the access for ATVs to legally drive on the town’s streets.

The group already has permission to drive on parts of Wright St and Mallard Drive in order to access gas stations and amenities at exit 504. This new request would involve extending access into downtown Sackville, and to the Gitpu Gas Station on Cherry Burton Road.

Proposed street access for ATVs by Quad NB. Source: Jacques Ouellette, president Quad NB

The Sackville request is for access all the way down Main Street to Bridge, and then up Bridge to Weldon. The Gitpu request involves access starting from King Street, heading across Buck Road, to Lower Fairfield Road, and onto Cherry Burton Road all the way to the 106.

Proposed road access for ATVs by Quad NB. Source: Jacques Ouellette, president Quad NB

Ouellette says the first access granted in 2019 was a tester of sorts, and he feels it was a successful one.

“When we were granted the access on the first streets,” said Ouellette, “it was more to prove to the Council or the municipality, the citizens, that it could work… And it works, so this is why we’re coming back.”

Allowing more street access for ATVs would mean amending the current town of Sackville by-law, and getting approval from the Departments of Public Safety and Transportation and Infrastructure. Ouellette says he is ready to start the process if he gets the support of council.