Council tables Ellison Parkway path motion

By roger knoxMorning Star StaffJul 12 2006 http://www.vernonmorningstar.com/
Longacre Drive residents have won a temporary reprieve in their battle with the City of Vernon to prevent a planned Ellison Parkway multi-use path from going through their neighbourhood.By a vote of 3-2, with Coun. Juliette Cunningham absent, council voted to table a motion to approve the alignment of the multi-use path until its next meeting on July 24. Following a submission of a 150-name petition, plus other pathway options from Longacre residents, Coun. Patrick Nicol spearheaded the move to table the motion. “This neighbourhood has given us some credible input. Why can’t we go back and take a sober look at this?” questioned Nicol. The plan is to have the path built between Apollo and Bench Row Roads no later than Sept. 3, the two-year anniversary of the date of a covenant registration with Lakeside Development Corporation, the group developing the Seasons project. A new Ellison Parkway connector road is also expected to be built in the next five years as part of that plan. Couns. Pat Cochrane and Barry Beardsell opposed tabling the motion. “As a community, we’re so far behind in developing trails and running and cycling paths, we’re way behind,” said Cochrane. “This seems like a logical area for a trail. I’d really hate for this to go a few steps back.” Along with the covenant anniversary, city staff recommended passing the motion as the Greater Vernon Services’ Recreation Master Plan proposed a Ribbons of Green Trail through this area of the Landing. The path could be re-aligned directly adjacent to the proposed future roadway though the Agriculture Land Commission has not approved the re-alignment. Staff also cautioned that putting the pathway next to the future roadway would degrade the quality of the experience for the users. Jim Inglis, a Longacre Drive resident, and vocal opponent of the pathway, was pleased with the two-week delay, but disappointed with the two councillors who opposed the motion. “I’m disappointed with the comments made by Couns. Cochrane and Beardsell who clearly don’t seem to have read the options sent in by the residents,” said Inglis. “They don’t seem to worry about our property values. They clearly have some other goals in mind.”
Inglis wrote out four options to council members:
• Do nothing;
• Build at the south side (top) of the field;
• Build a diagonal route across the Klinger Field property;
• The current proposal.
Nicol was encouraged by option two, building at the south side of the field which, according to Inglis, is the most popular with Longacre and Apollo Drive residents. The two main highlights are that a trail already exists and is removed from existing residents. Inglis now hopes the city will invite Longacre residents to give input over the next two weeks, something that didn’t happen in the original process.