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Plans to create a new and improved trail system through Windsor’s South Cameron Woodlot have received support from council — but the $2.6 million needed to fund the project won’t be discussed until budget time.
City council on Monday approved conceptual plans that, if funded this winter, will see asphalt and limestone paths and fibreglass boardwalks installed in and around the woodlot.
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“This is not going to be a paving of the South Cameron Woodlot,” James Chacko, executive director of parks and facilities, told council.
Windsor’s naturalist worked with a biologist from WSP, an environmental consulting company, to review the woodlot, which includes provincially significant wetlands and is home to at-risk species, Chacko said.
“Areas were determined of greatest risk or sensitivity,” Chacko said. “Trails being developed in the park are being developed in consideration of the significant features to ensure none of those features are being disturbed.”
The process is similar to what took place at the Ojibway Prairie Complex when trails were installed there, he said.
Solar-powered lights will be installed along an asphalt multi-use trail at the park’s perimeter, “consistent with what we’ve done in other parkland that is abutting natural areas,” he said. No lights will be installed inside the woodlot.
Council directed Windsor’s treasurer to include the trail plan, estimated to cost more than $2.6 million, in 2025 as part of the 10-year capital budget for council’s future consideration.
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The woodlot and other municipally owned lands (Chappus Natural Area, Malden Park, and the St. Clair College Prairie and Woods) were included in the study area for the Ojibway National Urban Park. According to a report to city council, the majority of people surveyed about the urban park and other naturalized spaces said they want trails for walking and hiking.
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The South Cameron Woodlot project will be completed in phases and with sections of the trails closed during construction while the rest of the park stays open to the public. The funding must still be approved, and no dates for the project have been set.
The first phase includes an asphalt trail with solar lighting along the park’s perimeter along Ojibway Street and parallel to Mark Avenue, and Phase 2 will see limestone and boardwalk trails constructed along Kenora Street east of Randolph Avenue, with Phase 4 continuing that work west of Randolph. Phase 3 includes an interior trail from Ojibway Street that leads to both the park’s playground and Kenora Street.
Chacko said all trails will meet Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act standards, though the “environmentally friendly” materials — limestone and wood chips — proposed for the woodlot’s interior trails may not be “as accessible” as asphalt of concrete.
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