Anne Patterson - Langley Times

Anne Patterson is a freelance writer and horse owner who lives in Langley. Her Accidental Rider column looks at various aspects of the horse fraternity in Langley.

Trails challenge easier when they go in first

By Anne Patterson - Langley Times - May 09, 2008

Accidental

Rider

Trails — everyone loves them, but no one wants them in their own back yard.

Opposition from property owners along the route of proposed trails is one of the many obstacles civic managers and user groups have to overcome in order to expand the network of recreational trails in our 122 square mile, 80 per cent rural community.

According to Township Mayor Kurt Alberts, the process of building trails in the community has been, over the years, an uphill battle. Speaking at a meeting of the Langley Friends of the Trans Canada Trail, Alberts outlined the lessons he learned about the politics of trail building.

“For one thing, it’s very hard to add trails after people move in. People have a fear of trails that stems from security issues. We’ve learned to make trails a condition of development, and to get a developer to build them before the homes go on,” said Alberts.

Linking pre-construction trail building to a development permit solves both funding and public relations problems for the Township. It means a developer has to pay for the cost of public trails and to provide land for the trails, and it means the new residents will accept the new trails as a done deal when they move in.

According to Al Neufeld, manager of parks, design and development for the Township, a textbook example of this approach is the High Point development in Campbell Valley.

The developer was required to build over 9 kilometres of new public access trails to Township all-weather standards at the outset of the project.

“This is a significant addition of trails and open space areas,” noted Neufeld.

Building trails in established rural residential areas is more difficult, but not impossible. A proposal to improve and expand trails east of 256 Street over to 264 Street along the 8 Avenue corridor has been initiated by the Back Country Horsemen of BC through a letter to Township Council.

“The proposal has been referred to staff so we can do the background work. We don’t have funds budgeted, but we have to start somewhere. These trails projects require co-ordination and partnership,” he said.

Neufeld has been talking to equestrian groups, he said, and encouraging them to submit proposals to the Township for new trails.

In the meantime, staff has finished an inventory of unused road allowances to determine which ones could be connected to off-road trail networks.

Neufeld now has first-hand experience trail riding, although he doesn’t own a horse.

“I was attending a conference in Saskatoon and I went trail riding because I was interested in trails. Unfortunately, the rental horse held his breath while I was doing up my saddle and I felt it slip while we were riding. I ended up underneath him,”

Anne Patterson is a Langley writer and horse owner. Contact her at accidentalrider@yahoo.com.

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Trails challenge easier when they go in first

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