Northshore Heights Trail Project open house set for next week

The M.D. of Bonnyville has set a date for the Northshore Heights Trail Project open house and budgeted some preparation money for the final trail connection from the water treatment plant to Vezeau Beach.

At the M.D. council meeting on March 27, council set the date for the open house on April 9 from 6:30pm-8:30pm at the Shaw House.

The project would see a trail on the east side of Moose Lake from Township Road 612 and running north to Highway 660 and connect Sunset Beach to the Northshore Heights area.

After council discussed where the overall project sat, they decided to budget $15,000 for administration to prepare for the final connection to Vezeau Beach.

“Some of the concerns from council was it seemed that is just going to be an island, a trail to nowhere. How do we get from here to there? The trail committee was talking about it but nothing was put on paper. Our administration end of it was somewhat ill-informed as to where this is going,” said Deputy Reeve Ben Fadeyiw.

“Right now, what we’re doing is keeping that trail going. Get some groundwork done. But right now that groundwork has to be approved by Alberta Transportation as well as the subdivision owners in the owner. There’s still a lot of planning that has to be done behind the scenes first before we get the rest of the trail going towards Vezeau. That is the plan.”

The open house will give a chance for residents and landowners to see the location of the trail and speak with SE Design and M.D. staff about the project.

“Trail systems around Moose Lake and the M.D. are very important to council,” said Fadeyiw.

At a future meeting, Parks, Recreation and Culture will present an overall M.D. trail plan to council.

In 2018, the council agreed to connect North Shore Heights to existing trails.