August 17, 2011
MNR accepts town's
bridge decision
by Denise Walker
“No hard feelings.”
That’s the response of the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) to the
decision by Laurentian Hills council to reject an offer by MNR to build
a new bridge across McConnell Creek.
MNR had offered to “supply all material and labour to erect a new
bridge and clear a new section of walking trail.”
The bridge was supposed to improve access for the public to the Ottawa
River shoreline.
It would have been built downstream from an older bridge that was built
and is maintained by some local residents at the end of McAnulty Road.
Doug Skeggs, spokesperson for the MNR regional office in Pembroke, said
the ministry respects the decision of the municipality, saying “it’s
entirely their call.”
The existing bridge “is a good bridge, it's sound. We have no concerns
about it,” he said, adding however, “the new bridge would have been a
better bridge with handrails.”
Ironically, one of the concerns council had with the offer, that there
would be a precedent set leading to requests from other areas in the
municipality, echoed a concern of MNR staff.
“It’s not our job to do this (building the bridge) and we worried that
other municipalities would then say ‘where is our bridge?'” Skeggs said.
The idea of replacing the bridge and improving the trail came to the
forefront following the 2009 decision by MNR to sell a strip of Crown
land to private landowners near Rocky Point Lane.
The town maintained that the land provided valuable public access to
the shoreline. The sale was made in 2010 despite objections from the
public and from the town of Laurentian Hills.
The town formally protested the sale to the then Minister, Linda
Rafferty, arguing that the sale violated the Ministry’s own policies
and ignored the town’s legitimate interest.
Skeggs defended the decision to sell the property. He said that there
had been a great deal of misinformation around the issues of the sale.
According to Skeggs, the small strip of land was “never intended to be
used as an access trail.”
He explained, “We looked long and hard to see if we could make it into
an access corridor but there were too many physical difficulties.
“There were also privacy issues for the landowners. We decided it was
just not suitable for a public trail.”
The small size of the property, the fact that it had private landowners
on both sides, and the belief by MNR staff that it could not be used as
an access trail led to the position that “there was no public purpose
this residual strip of land could serve,” said Skeggs.
That determination led them to decide to sell the land.
Nevertheless Skeggs said it was clear that access to the Ottawa River
was of great interest to the town of Laurentian Hills and its residents.
“It’s not in our mandate to provide access to the shoreline, but we do
try and partner with our local municipalities.
“Seeing the great concern there was about access to the Ottawa River,
we looked about to see if we could help out,” he said.
That “looking about” led to the offer to build a new bridge and improve
the trail.
“We saw an opportunity to provide some assistance using our ranger and
fire crews,” said Skeggs.
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