Confusion cleared up over private property postings on Kitchener trail
Posted Nov 19, 2020 09:15:00 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
You can use the Walter Bean Trail in Kitchener, but just remember to treat it — and those around it — with respect.
That's the message behind some posted signage that developed into a somewhat confusing situation in the Chicopee area recently.
The trail has about a half kilometre stretch that runs through the Grand Manor of Sims Estate neighbourhood. Private property signs popped up near said trail, and the reasoning has nothing to do with keeping the public away.
“It's not a case of wealthy people trying to restrict access,” Dave Schneider, Ward 2 councillor for Kitchener told The Mike Farwell Show on 570 NEWS.
And it had nothing to do with land usage either. An easement is in place that allows public use of the trail, even if it's technically on private property.
The signs had gone up after concerns mounted over how some residents were using the trail, and the property around it.
“There were some incidents of vandalism, where people were taking rocks from the riverbed (of the Grand River, which runs nearby) and throwing them onto their lawns, trees were being damaged,” Schneider said.
“There were some cyclists driving at a very high rate of speed, and they were concerned about this.”
The councillor said they should not have done that, adding it would have been best to go to the city for assistance, but nobody restricted them from using the signs.
“The sign said: Private path. Closed at dusk. Bicycle slow,” Schneider commented, “And then it does say 'public may use at your own risk.”
He said they met with the condo board, and they were able to come to a solution that will see the city post signs of their own.
“Obviously, when you see a sign that says, on a trail that you've used, now it says 'private path,' it was a little concerning,” added Schneider, while going on to say later that there was more confusion than anything in the neighbourhood.
“Once you start investigating a situation, and maybe why somebody did something, like why the condo board put up those signs, and you explain that to the residents that brought the signs to my attention, they're going, 'oh, okay. I kind of get that.'”
Schneider said overall, the vast majority of trail users are respectful, and “a very small minority” that cause the issue.
“I think we got the solution going here, and especially during these COVID pandemic times, getting out to the trail is a great way to kind of relax and reconnect with nature,” he said.
