Improvements to Terry Fox Circle could come as early as next year.
At Monday’s council meeting, city politicians endorsed a plan to repave the winding Couchiching Beach Park road.
In addition, council endorsed moving a section of the pedestrian trail – between the pier and washroom structure – closer to the water, with plans to include a physical barrier between that section of trail and Terry Fox Circle.
No final approval has been given to the idea yet, with council referring its design and construction expenses to the 2025 budget deliberations later this year.
The plan to repave the existing road follows years of discussion extending into the previous term of council, with initial plans to close the roadway falling to the wayside in favour of redesigning it in a much smaller configuration.
At that time, a citizen-led petition garnered more than 6,000 signatures to keep the circle the way it is.
“As many of you know, there's proposal to do some work in 2026. This proposal will move it to the budget discussion and hopefully get this work done in 2025,” said Mayor Don McIsaac.
“There were… 6,218 people who signed off on a petition (to keep) the circle open. There's been a lot of discussion here, and I think we need to move forward at this point.”
Brought forward by McIsaac and councillors Jeff Czetwerzuk, Luke Leatherdale, and Whitney Smith, the idea narrowly gained council approval in a 5-4 vote, with some members of council speaking strongly against the plan ahead of moving forward with the smaller, redesigned Terry Fox Circle.
“The current design was arrived upon after many, many meetings, much consultation and public input, and in my opinion it represents the best compromise,” said Coun. David Campbell. “It allows those folks that enjoy driving through that area to still do so, while protecting the safety of all the other park users.”
Campbell said it would be “prudent” for council to move forward with the redesigned circle, noting that “experts have all agreed that having a road running through a park makes no sense” and that “with families and children playing and enjoying the park, a serious incident is inevitable.”
He also raised concern that, with electric vehicle usage on the rise, their relatively silent operation might make it easier for collisions to take place.
The mayor stressed safety is a key concern in the project, and that the public has supported keeping the circle the way it is.
“I think safety is paramount. There's no question about it, and I think with a 20 (km/h) speed in the park and speed bumps, the safety is adequate,” the mayor said. “The subject matter experts are the nine people at this table – at the end of the day, we have the accountability.”
He also said the community spoke through the petition.
“I mean, we had over 6,000 people sign a petition to keep it open. I think that speaks for itself,” the mayor said.
Other members of council shared different concerns, raising issue with moving a section of the pedestrian trail closer to the water, as well as the cost for repaving the whole road, with Coun. Jay Fallis calling the smaller, redesigned roadway a “compromise circle.”
“We do create a bigger buffer between our park area and the traffic that's going through it. We create less of an opportunity for cars to speed up,” Fallis said. “It still provides some access to the centre part of the park and the beach … and I think, for those reasons, that it does seem like the better of the two options.”
A lot of seniors use the road to access Couchiching Beach Park, said Coun. Ralph Cipolla, who favoured repaving the circle now and revisiting other options down the road.
“The majority of the people that wanted to stay the same were seniors and people that needed handicap (parking) and wanted accessibility,” Cipolla said. “Maybe five years down the road, 10 years down the road we revisit this possibility, but I think we leave it the way it is for now, and the whole road needs to be resurfaced there.”
After his statement in support of the idea, Campbell jabbed Cipolla for his willingness to support this project, while previously raising concerns about the safety of ice cream trucks in the city during a previous council meeting.
“I'm really surprised at your position on this. When we were discussing ice cream trucks on city streets, you were very, very concerned about children getting injured by vehicles, and yet you have no problem with vehicles driving through our park where children are playing,” Campbell said.
“I take my grandchildren there,” responded Cipolla. “They play on the playground, and with the speed limit and the speed bumps there, as the mayor said, there is very little, very little hazard to the children, especially if they're supervised by their parents.”
Regarding accessibility, Coun. Janet-Lynne Durnford noted “there are absolutely measures that can be taken to make the park accessible that do not include cars driving in the middle of the park.”
After the meeting, Mel St. Onge, who helped organize the petition with a committee of local residents, thanked city council for its Monday decision.
"I want to thank mayor and council for looking after the taxpayers that want to keep the Terry Fox circle completely open, and thank the ... committee for their hard work as volunteers to get the petition going," he told OrilliaMatters.
