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RD directors maintain commitment to trails

Directors confirmed their commitment to the construction of local trails.

BY LORNE ECKERSLEY

Advance staff

At the June 8 Local Services Committee meeting local RDCK directors confirmed their commitment to the construction of trails, and initiated a process toward creation of a master plan for parks and trails for the area.

With Mary Jane Blackmore on hand to represent the Trails for Creston Valley Society, considerable discussion took place about the need to coordinate plans among volunteer groups and local government.

“The Regional District needs bylaws to formalize and enable local support groups to create and manage properties on a contract basis, and those projects may or may not be funded by the RDCK,” said committee chair Larry Binks of Area C.

Area B director Tanya Wall cautioned that coordination of efforts is imperative. “There can be a problem when societies take on a project and then turn it over to our local governments, leaving taxpayers to foot the ongoing bills,” she said.

Blackmore agreed, but added another perspective.

“Yes, but what we have right now is not good enough for our community,” she said. “One of our goals right now is securing assets so we don’t lose them, like we lost the Goat Canyon access to the river.”

All agreed that the top short-term priority is to proceed with work done in recent years at the Old Ferry Landing, where the trails society wants to add public washrooms. Blackmore agreed to find out what conditions the area diking district has in order to agree to a licence of occupation for the construction.

The society has a grant to construct washrooms from the Creston-Kootenay Foundation, and Blackmore said that the lengthy process is a concern.

“We brought this issue forward (to the RDCK) 18 months ago and now we are sitting here and talking about another two or three months,” Binks said. “We will speak to the Creston-Kootenay Foundation on your behalf,” he told Blackmore.

At the request of Wall, RDCK staff will begin a process of organizing a public meeting to explore the wants and needs of volunteer groups in the Creston Valley and East Shore, with an eye toward creating a parks and trails master plan.