Halifax Recreational Trails Pilot Program

Reposted from the Mountain Bike Halifax FB group. Please take a minute to read and consider emailing your councillor with a copy of the letter at the bottom.

Mountain Bike Halifax as well as all trail organizations need your help in encouraging HRM to approve a pilot program for the funding of recreation trails in HRM.

Trails in Halifax Regional Municipality currently fall into two categories: Active Transportation (AT) Trails and Recreation Trails. Active Transportation trails are linear trails used for active transportation from home to work, school or other. In other words, they are designed to get from point A to point B. The COLTA trail is an example of such a trail. Recreation trails however, are trails designed for recreation. They can be a loop or a destination trail to a point of interest such as a lake, scenic point, etc. The McIntosh Run Singletrack Trail system is an example of a recreation trail.

Halifax Regional Municipality’s current trail funding model provides funding for Active Transportation trails, only. This funding is provided through the Halifax Regional Trails Association (HRTA), a consortium of 23 trail groups across HRM. There is currently no funding mechanism in place for the provision of municipal funds for the development and maintenance of recreation trails in HRM. Mountain Bike Halifax would like to see this change.

Recently, HRTA has put forth a proposal to HRM to pilot a program to allow municipal funding to be used to help fund the development of recreation trails in HRM. HRTA is asking HRM to expand the trail funding program and provide $250k to fund the pilot program in 2018/19. HRM Council will discuss the proposal at Budget Committee on March 28th. If council approves this pilot program, it serves to further the process of allowing municipal funds to be put toward the development and maintenance of recreation trails in HRM.

As such, Mountain Bike Halifax is encouraging you to contact your councillor and let them know that you’d like HRM to fund recreational trails by asking HRM to expand the trail funding program and provide $250K to fund a pilot program in 2018/19.

To do this, please feel free to use the following letter to email to your councillor.

To Mayor Savage and Councillors,

I am writing this letter to encourage you to support the Halifax Regional Trails Association (HRTA) proposal for a Pilot Program for the funding of Recreation Trails. As recreation trails offer health, economic and environmental benefits to our community, I believe HRM should provide funding to trail organizations who build and maintain these valuable community resources. As HRTA has a proven track record in coordinating trail funding, please support their Pilot Program for Recreation Trails in the 2018/2019 budget.

Thank you,

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Does anyone know when the vote on this is/was? I had written to my Councillor but never received a response.

It was punted to next year by Waye Mason. No budget for it this year, apparently.

Bah! Thanks for the update.

A post was merged into an existing topic: Government Support for Recreational Trails