Most Chain of Lakes Trail users don’t know about sewer project

Last year, Parks Canada researcher Alain Boudreau conducted a detailed monitoring study of the Chain of Lakes Trail, and concluded that the trail saw “possibly 120,000 to 180,000 person-trips per year.” (See the detailed user study, here.)

But if a small sample of trail users interviewed by The Coast Monday is any indication, most don’t know that Halifax council has directed that the trail be torn up and taken out of commission for nearly a year, so a sewer pipe can be put under it.

The pipe is being installed to facilitate a Timberlea development called Brunello Estates. The pipe will divert sewage from Brunello away from Timberlea, to connect to the Halifax sewage system. Ultimately, the Brunello sewage will be treated at the downtown Halifax sewage plant.

A half dozen people we spoke with Monday on the trail didn’t know of the project. Antoine Tremblay was typical. He was walking the trail with his wife Julianne, who uses the trail for her daily commute to work. Antoine only uses it occasionally. She was aware of the sewer project from news reports of the controversy; he wasn’t.

Told of the plan, Antoine shrugged. “Better they tear up this, than over there,” he said, gesturing towards the adjacent Crown Drive,

Others knew of the project but took it in stride, so to speak.

“It’s unfortunate,” said Trish MacDonald, who was running along the trail Monday. “But there are lots of places to run. I hope it doesn’t impact our running group.”

“I’ve lived long enough that I’ve had a few inconveniences,” said John Ducett, who likes to bike the trail because of its gentle gain in altitude. “This is another.”

It’s possible that news coverage of the sewer project may be in turn bringing more people to the trail. That, anyway, is the case with Stephanie Saunders, who was walking the trail with a friend from out of town.

“I just discovered [the trail],” Saunders told The Coast. “My roommate told me about it, and said I better get out here before they tear it up.”

A woman hiking the trail who didn’t want her name used wondered why the sewer work couldn’t have been done when the trail was built in 2010. That question was addressed in a letter councillors Linda Mosher and Russell Walker sent to area residents after the councillors voted for the project.

“HRM and its partners make every effort to coordinate projects to reduce disruptions and redundancies,” reads the letter. “However, in this particular case, the wastewater project was not being considered when the trail was purchased and developed.”

However, that explanation doesn’t really, well, hold water. The city began discussions with Brunello Estates about the need to divert sewage from Timberlea into the Halifax system in 2006, the same year that the Chester Rail Line was identified by the city as a prospective active transportation route. In 2007, the city promised Brunello that it would have access to the Halifax sewer system. In 2008, CN abandoned the rail line. In 2009, the city bought the rail line and, in 2010, began construction of the Chain of Lakes Trail on the former rail corridor.

Even if it’s true that the specifics of living up to the promise to deal with Brunello’s sewage weren’t considered until recently, that’s a far cry from making “every effort to coordinate projects” during the three years between the poop promise and groundbreaking on the trail. As for what exactly the facts are, time—and a series of Freedom of Information requests to unearth relevant documentation—will tell.

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Councillors Linda Mosher and Russell Walker vote for sewage pipe project, then consult with their constituents, but omit the cost to ratepayers.

This article appears in Aug 15-21, 2013.