Trails to be upgraded as part of land swap

Jeff Helsdon, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Tillsonburg trail users in the north end of town and residents on Bobolink Drive will be beneficiaries of a land swap between the town and Performance Communities Realty Inc.

Council first heard about the matter late last year when developer Will Hayhoe gave council a brief overview of the proposal to provide $50,000 worth of upgrades to trails, including paving the trail in a portion of the north end and installing benches, in exchange for town-owned land where he wanted to build a stormwater management pond for Rolling Meadows subdivision. As part of the deal, the town would fund oversizing the pond to deal with outstanding Bobolink Drive drainage at a cost of $125,000.

The issue was back before council on Jan. 27 after staff had worked out the details of the deal.

Mayor Deb Gilvesy pointed out from a taxpayer standpoint, the town doesn’t usually contribute to stormwater management ponds and asked for an explanation of the run-off situation on Bobolink.

“Every time there is a subdivision plan, water is supposed to be contained but my understanding is this situation that is different,” she noted.

Acting director of Public Works Chris Baird said the proposal cleans up a past issue with Bobolink drainage. He said there is a gradual slope along the north end of town that goes towards North Street.

“Those homes along that stretch of Bobolink never had an appropriate outlet for stormwater management,” he said. “In theory what was happening is all the surface runoff continues across the properties, down the road networks and onto North Street.”

He explained a stormwater management pond would have to be installed with the subdivision expansion and there was an opportunity for the town to partner with Hayhoe to fix the problem.

“Why it wasn’t done 25 plus years ago, I’m not able to say,” he said, adding having an appropriate stormwater system for Bobolink is the right thing to do.

Council passed a motion authorizing the sale of the land, the cost of upsizing the pond and agreeing to the donation for trail enhancements.