'Mixed messaging' in document outlining proposed road through Sudbury trails

Excitement rang out at city hall in Sudbury, Ont., in December 2016when a proposal to pave a second access to Laurentian University over a section of populartrails was shelved.

But four months later, there are still concerns aboutthe possibility of the South Bay Road extension because of the wording in the revised draft transportation master plan.

"My test is if a resident is reading the document, what do they understand it to mean?," said Naomi Grant, co-chair of the Coalition for a Liveable Sudbury.

"Using that test, there still is confusion and it still is very possible to interpret the master plan as recommending the South Bay Road extension for further study as a transportation option."

'It would be nice to have clarity'

The document includes a council resolution that was passed on Dec.13, 2016 to remove institutional and conservation land from the proposed project.

It notes there is strong opposition to the extension,but it recommends further study through an environmental assessment.

"There's mixed messaging right now in the plan, and it would be nice to have clarity," Grant said.

"As it reads now, any one who's unfamiliar with the issue who reads it will still feel like it is recommended for a transportation option in our city."

Josh Tillson, 16, regularly trains on trails near Lake Laurentian for Lo-Ellen Park Secondary School's track team.

"These trails are our home," Tillson said.

"If we were to lose something like that, where would we go to train? It's just a really beautiful place."

'It was really disappointing'

Tillson and his friends started a petition in 2016, which prompted city council to to approve the motion ensuring the road would not be built over trails.

But now they are questioning their victory given how the project is presented in the revised draft transportation document.

"It was really disappointing because we worked really hard on that petition," Tillson said.

"It just kind of felt like a betrayal," Tillson's friend Navjeet Baath, 17, added.

"The councillors promised that they would take it [paving over trails] out."

Coun. Deb McIntosh urged her colleagues to protect the institutional and public land near Lake Laurentian.

She remains optimistic that South Bay Road will not extend over the area.

Councillor 'confident' road won't be extended over trails

"I don't see that anybody in the future is ever going to look at this and think, yeah,we should punch a road through here," McIntosh said.

"I am so confident that there will never be a road here in as much as it's such a precious jewel to the entire city and I think that council understands that."

Council's resolution will be reflected more accurately once the transportation master plan is adopted in the city's official plan, according to McIntosh.

People have until April 9 to have their say on the city's revised draft transportation master plan.

Tillson is encouraging people to submitfeedback on the South Bay Road extension.

"As a community of Sudbury, we need those [Laurentian] trails," Tillson said.

"It's a part of us."