The residents of MacDonald Place will be getting a trail through their neighbourhood, regardless of the numerous formal concerns recently filed with the municipality.
Cameron Chalmers, the director of planning for the municipality said he is recommending approval of the trail presented in the Official Community Plan (OCP) document because it serves the public's interest.
"We made our decision on the policy that exists and the broader public interest," he said.
Chalmers said OCP policy supporting pathway connectivity is taken into consideration when planning sub-divisions.
"We have at least three very specific policy statements in the OCP that talk about the importance of connecting existing communities with trails and in particular to important public areas," Chalmers said.
Chalmers acknowledges he received letters of opposition from neighbours but noted he also received letters of approval from Squamish Trail Society and the Brackendale Owners and Tennant's Association.
Chalmers said the newly approved MacDonald Place trail would be a formal connection that would complete a few other pathways, which have already been created.
"So people who live on Dryden Road now will be able to walk through a trail system, off the road ways, to connect to Government Road," he said.
MacDonald Place resident Ian McIlwaine said he was opposed to another pathway in his neighbourhood because the area already had three trails cutting through the residential area.
"We just had three new trails punched in on the other side and it's just more traffic that you don't need. It's just a waste of money and kind of a farce on good government," said McIlwaine.
McIlwaine wrote a letter to municipal council requesting the trail be reconsidered because the residents want more safety in their community and not "another place for teenagers to hang out and drink beer."
Chalmers said the planning committee does take community safety into account when designating trails.
"It's not as if we turned a blind eye to the concerns of the community. I think the other consideration is, when we do these types of planning exercises we acknowledge existing conditions but we also think about future possibilities," he said.
"I would not subscribe to the belief that we should stop introducing parks and trails for the simple reason that from time to time, they may be used inappropriately."
In his letter to council, McIlwaine argued the concerns of the community should be heard.
"When over 90 per cent of a neighbourhood speaks out against an idea, you would think that council would listen," he wrote.
According to Mayor Greg Gardner, municipal council does not have much involvement in the planning process of sub-divisions other than creating policy. The actual formation of a sub-division is at the discretion of approving officers like Chalmers.
"In British Columbia sub-division decisions are the decisions of the provincial government and they're delegated to the approving officer," said Gardner. "So the approving officer makes the decision and not council."
MacDonald Place developer Norm Barr said that's the problem important sub-division issues do not go through council anymore.
"I spent six years on council myself and any controversial approvals like this went through council they didn't go to one person. We sat down and discussed them."
Regardless of the trail dispute, Barr asid ultimately, he just wants to get on with building.
"I've spent five-and-a-half years or more trying to put this little seven-lot in fill sub-division project together and I don't want any more delays on it."
