Council members in Tiny Township had a first look at the newest four-year renewal agreement between the Ontario Federation of Snowmobile Clubs, Georgian Bay Snowriders, and local municipalities.
Along with Tiny, the trail-use agreement for the 2024 to 2028 seasons is anticipated to appear before Midland and Penetanguishene councils in upcoming meetings.
At the Tiny committee of the whole meeting, attention was given to the collaborative report prepared by public works director Tim Leitch, Penetanguishene recreation and community services director Sherry Desjardins, and the snowmobiling group which began crafting in March of 2023.
Leitch noted that there were no major changes which had occurred from the previous agreement, but listed some highlights from the report which had been reviewed through municipal legal and insurance before coming to council.
“They’re (Georgian Bay Snowriders) not going to have trail wardens anymore where previously they did,” said Leitch. “They’ve indicated that they will be working with the OPP to make sure that they have coverage on the trail.
“There’s some new trails that they’ve developed this year, that (they) worked in conjunction with our public works department to make sure that the trail maps match the online map (and which) matches the publicized map,” Leitch said. He added the updated maps would help protect municipal assets, private property assets, as well as riders who could otherwise venture off the trail.
The agreement was dated to start from November 1, 2024 which allowed Mayor David Evans to lightheartedly remark: “Hopefully… it doesn’t snow too soon (as) they don’t have an agreement; but so far so good.”
Approval of the agreement was granted by the Tiny Township committee of the whole, expected to be ratified at the next regular meeting of council.
Following the meeting, CAO Robert Lamb spoke to MidlandToday about upcoming winter activities in Tiny, noting that snow would have been welcomed for the annual township Christmas tree lighting celebration on Tuesday in Perkinsfield Park, the Wyevale Santa Claus parade on November 30 and snowmobiling on the trails.
“When you hear director Leitch talk about: ‘we would like winter come and be winter’, it actually has a big impact to us,” said Lamb.
“Because of the impact that things like climate change has, we can actually end up spending a lot more money on trucks, salt and sand when you have temperatures that are always freeze-thaw-freeze-thaw, freezing rain versus the good old-fashioned snowfalls. And when you don’t have the cold weather to sink into and freeze up our roads, they get pulverized a lot faster with the freeze-thaw cycle.
“The whole impact of climate change on a municipality’s infrastructure is becoming more-and-more costly if we don’t have a return, every now and then, to a good old-fashioned freeze-up wintertime; which would also be great for our snowmobiles (and) our ice-fishermen” said Lamb, “which I am proud to say I’m both.”
A presentation to Tay Township earlier this year noted that in the ‘extremely mild winter’ of 2023, the OPP only patrolled 71 hours and responded to 46 calls for service across 200 kilometres of the Ontario Federation of Snowmobile Club trails.
The 2024-2028 trail use agreement report can be viewed on the agenda page on the Township of Tiny website.
Archives of council meetings are available to view on the township’s YouTube channel.
