Plans for a new Canatara Park entrance off Michigan Avenue should be scrapped, as development would damage habitat for endangered snakes, City of Sarnia officials and a consultant say.
Plans for a new Canatara Park entrance off Michigan Avenue should be scrapped, as development would damage habitat for endangered snakes, City of Sarnia officials and a consultant say.
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That’s according to a proposed master plan updatecoming to city council for approval Dec. 16, for the about 80-hectare park.
Plans for the new entrance, washrooms, a parking lot and a pavilion in the southwest section of the park should be nixed because they would impact habitat for endangered Butler’s garter snakes, a report from city parks and recreation manager Krissy Glavin says.
Snakes were moved to the park in 2012 and again in 2021to make way for other development projects nearby.
“We are grateful for active members of our community. . . that brought this to our attention,” Glavin’s report says.
Habitat for snakes at the site is “actively managed” to maintain the population there, information in the report from master plan consultant The Planning Partnership says.
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That includes controlling woody plant species, and creating meadows and brush piles, it says.
Point Edward man Jason Baker said he grew up near the park, and played there as a child.
He was among several who flagged the endangered snake species’ presence in the park during a public consultation meeting in July, he said.
“We even went out of our way to go up and talk to (Planning Partnership officials) and take time and again describe passionately how it is important,” he said.
Officials with the Toronto-based consultant seemed not to have gotten the message, said Baker, who created a petitionwith about 100 supporters as of Thursday, after counciled endorsed the flawed master plan in November.
Baker said he wasn’t happy when snakes were moved to Canatara Park in the past to make way for development in other areas.
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“We can’t just keep moving (the Butler’s garter snakes) around,” he said. “They need to stay where they are.”
Baker contacted various environmental agencies and the provincial Environment Ministry about the risk posed by the master plan.
He also spoke with officials at the city and the Planning Partnership, he said.
Including aspects in the master plan that would damage snake habitat was a mistake, said the Planning Partnership’s Donna Hinde.
She stressed officials adjusted plan recommendations after they learned about the error.
“We made a mistake and we recognized that mistake and corrected it,” she said, acknowledging she remembers hearing about snake habitat concerns in July and sharing that information with her team.
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“There’s nothing we are trying to hide,” she said.
Specifics about the habitat aren’t disclosed in order to protect the snakes, said Grant Kauffman, an ecologist who worked on the master plan project.
“It’s an endangered species and the few populations that we have are certainly worthy of protection,” he said.
It’s important people give the snakes space, said Hinde.
“The last thing we want is people going out there and tramping on their habitat.”
The proposed Michigan Avenue entrance and other development projects in that corner of the park were listed as medium and longer-term aims in the up-to-$11.4-million master plan presented in November.
Officials, in the plan, estimated it would cost $700,000 to build the new entrance, washrooms and parking lot.
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