Heavy tire tracks mark the Hamilton Drain Trail where it meets the Train Trail this week, as evidence of construction equipment moving along the same corridors as care-free children on their bicycles.
Some trail neighbours are raising the alarm on their concerns for the safety of all the users of the heavily-trafficked Collingwood trail as construction of the Sunvale Homes development adjacent to the area at 17 Portland St. seems to be overflowing onto the pedestrian trail.
Christal Blanchard lives in the area with her two children and has noticed heavy equipment on the trail as recently as Wednesday, when she was travelling the trail with her two sons and her nieces on their bikes.
“We’ve seen equipment, workers, mountains of dirt, rubbish, bricks and wood,” Blanchard told CollingwoodToday, noting that a lot of the work had been cleaned up in the past week.
Although, Blanchard’s safety concerns remain.
“I didn’t know what was in all the piles of junk. I’d question if there were nails. When I got (the kids) home, the mud on them was orange, almost rusty. That concerned me too,” she said.
Blanchard notes that although it’s not technically permitted, there are a lot of people who let their dogs roam off-leash in the area as it’s close to a dog park.
“I think if they keep [rubbish and dirt piles] away from the trail and if they need to use the trail for big vehicles, just let us know with some notice or signs,” said Blanchard. “There should be a warning sign somewhere.”
Sunvale Homes’ 17 Portland St. development is a 90-unit residential development split between 84 townhouses, six semi-detached units, visitor parking and open amenity space.
Kirby Street residents Avril Angus and her husband Stuart have also noticed the equipment and construction waste on trails.
They live near the intersection of Kirby and Dey Drive just north of the trails and the 17 Portland development. There is an empty lot at the intersection (which is on Indigo/Eden Oaks property), which has been used for years unofficially by people in the neighbourhood to access the Hamilton Drain Trail. The property beyond the vacant lot to the south until it meets the trails is owned by Sunvale Homes.
As part of the site plan agreement between Sunvale and the town for their development at 17 Portland St., Sunvale agreed to build a proper path to officially connect the Hamilton Drain Trail/Train Trail to Dey Drive.
For Avril, issues with Sunvale started between five and six month ago, when construction vehicles were parked along her fence as the new connecting trail began construction. After reaching out to the developer, she says that issue was addressed. After that, she says construction vehicles started using the new trail as a cut-through to access the development at 17 Portland.
“They were large trucks and excavators. They were going through the trail constantly,” said Avril. “It’s just a disaster waiting to happen. Someone is going to get hurt.”
Following multiple calls to the town’s bylaw department with little action, Stuart got on the phone with the town’s engineering department about two weeks ago to express his concerns for the safety of trail users.
“I phoned engineering and asked, what’s the code that allows people to drive this (trail) as a road? Should there be signs? They said they would send somebody out,” said Stuart.
The town’s engineering department confirmed to CollingwoodToday this week that they were called to the site, and issued a warning to Sunvale Homes at that time.
“The town was made aware that materials were being hauled along the Hamilton Drain Trail last week, so bylaw and engineering staff provided a warning to the developer to stop crossing the trail with materials related to the work being completed,” said Stuart West, the town’s manager of engineering.
“The developer...provided the town a written acknowledgement that this would not happen again,” he said, adding that the developer committed to cleaning up the trail and the empty lot at Dey and Kirby.
Stuart says that following his call to the town’s engineering department, the developer has cleaned up the piles of dirt and garbage that had accumulated on the vacant lot. When he spoke to engineering, he says they told him it was the first they had heard of the situation.
Overall, his ongoing concerns boil down to two key issues.
“The builder doesn’t seem to be (acting) responsible to the community,” he said. “The second point is, (the town’s) engineering (department) have been brilliant, but clearly there’s something not working with the two groups speaking to each other.”
“For bylaw to have been out here as many times as they’ve been out... Why didn’t they check with engineering?” said Stuart.
Mike Welton, vice-president of Sunvale Homes, told CollingwoodToday that when Sunvale had discussions with the town about their development in the area, Sunvale asked if it would be safer to erect fencing to prevent people from walking through, however, he says there were concerns that kids could just climb the fence, which could be even more dangerous.
“I’m sure it would have outraged people who have walked through the field forever. We decided to create a safe path to connect the adjoining trail,” said Welton. “People like it. It’s a nice shortcut.”
As he also lives on Kirby St., Welton says he completely understands why neighbours would be upset with vehicles motoring through the trails.
“I understand the neighbours’ frustration. It kills me when we don’t get sod, or somebody is left with garbage, because trades, sometimes, don’t take as much care as somebody who lives on-site,” he said.
Welton said the construction crew at the 17 Portland St. development have been told by Sunvale to no longer drive construction vehicles through the path, although, on Wednesday, while Welton was on site speaking with CollingwoodToday, a construction vehicle drove down the trail.
Welton apologized after seeing the machine on the trail. He said if neighbours see construction machines or vehicles on the trail again, he hopes they contact Sunvale Homes.
“We’d like to work with the community and keep things friendly with everybody,” he said.
