A local not-for-profit cycling club is offering to create a public bike trail network and nature park on public land they say is currently underutilized in Paris.
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At a council meeting at the end of December, Duncan Ross and JS Esposito — representatives of the Brant Cycling Club — told councilors they’re eager to get the ball rolling on what they’re calling the “North of the Nith Trails.”
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Their vision is a grassroots, community-led initiative that would build a single-track trail network designed for mountain bikes.
With rugged obstacles like roots, rocks and switchbacks, the trails would have extensive signage indicating the difficulty.
While there are mixed-use trails in the area — connecting to nearby locales like Hamilton and Cambridge — there aren’t any trails that are designed, or sanctioned, for mountain biking in Brantford and Brant County, Ross told councillors.
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They’ve spoken with, and taken inspiration from, other bike clubs that have created similar trail networks in nearby communities with success — including Waterloo and Turkey Point — Ross told council.
Additional features they’re proposing include a parking lot and nature park, ensuring the approximately 350 acres could be enjoyed by a variety of community members.
Bringing multiple recreational uses together in the space could also deter less desirable activities in the area, such as unsanctioned ATV use, Ross told councillors.
They initially brought their proposal to council in April 2021, with a request that county staff be authorized to investigate the possibility of a “stewardship agreement” with the Brant Cycling Club.
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Such an agreement would allow the club’s volunteers to build and maintain trails on land owned by the county and the Grand River Conservation Authority.
The proposed trails would wind through the area of Ayr Road across to Broadway, and from the railway tracks at the north, toward King Edward at the south.
A potential roadblock noted by Coun. John Bell at the meeting is that a portion of the proposed area is slated for the Boralex battery energy storage project, which was submitted to the Independent Electricity System Operator’s request for proposals in December.
This isn’t the cycling club’s first project. With around 200 members, they similarly pitched the Rotary Bike Park to the City of Brantford, raising $500,000 to cover the costs and overseeing the construction of it.
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The free-to-use, public BMX obstacle park opened in Rotary Centennial Waterworks Park in 2019.
In the time since their first presentation to council in 2021, Ross told councilors they’ve founded the Brant Waterways Regional Trails Council, composed of eight local groups with an interest in the trail development in the area — including Grand Trails, Brant for Nature, and the Brant Waterways Foundation.
Additional regional, provincial, and national groups have also expressed interest in getting involved in the project, he said.
Getting the go-ahead to start on environmental inventories and citizen-led science by spring would mean the project doesn’t get held up another year, they told council, adding that once work gets started, they believe folks could begin to use parts of it within a year.
Ross told council the club is “very sincere” in their desire to work “in a really respectable way” with county staff, to make something that works for all the different user groups.
Celeste Percy-Beauregard is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter based at the Hamilton Spectator. The initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.
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