Iqaluit gets $50,000 from feds to develop trails plan

Plan is to design recreational trails throughout the city; hope is that plan will be ready by the fall

Iqaluit has received $50,000 in federal funding to develop a plan for walking trails throughout the city. (File photo)

By David Lochead

The City of Iqaluit is getting $50,000 from the federal government to develop a trails plan.

“We want to create spaces where pedestrians can go out for a walk for exercise or go out for a walk to get from point A to point B,” said City of Iqaluit recreation director Stephanie Clark, in an interview.

The funding, announced by the federal government last week, is to develop a plan that designs routes for recreational trails across the city.

For example, Clark said, a trail could potentially provide a walking route connecting the hospital to Imiqtarviminiq Lake, also known as Dead Dog Lake, and the Apex trail.

The city will send out a tender to find a company to create the plan for council to consider. Clark said the intention is for the plan to provide a foundation to work from, so if trails are to be built in the future they can connect with existing ones.

“We want to make sure there’s more continuity to [our trails plan],” she said.

Clark said she hopes a plan can be finished by the summer or fall, so that recommendations to construct the trails can be put into the city’s next capital budget.

“Ideally, it’s a fairly rapid undertaking,” she said of developing a plan.

 

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(11) Comments:

  1. Posted by First For Everything on

    Wow, I just mentioned Iqaluit’s potential for public paths before lunch.

    Five years in Iqaluit and this is the first time I’ve found myself on the same page as the people in charge here.

    This is great news.

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  2. Posted by win on

    Great idea. Don’t do it unless it will be maintained and checked on regularly though…garbage cans emptied, vandalism removed, etc.

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    • Posted by First For Everything on

      And maintenance means GROOMING not plowing. Plowing paths and trails with no sand just leaves a nice slippery, polished surface for us to slide around on.

      Literally just drive over it with a snowmobile a few times and you will have effectively the same result as a snowcat on an Ontario sled trail.

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  3. Posted by Resident on

    hahah for the trails to be ruined by snowmobiles. thats a great idea

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    • Posted by First For Everything on

      The best times walking on local paths is after a few sleds have gone over it.

      They widen the path, pack the snow and leave a textured surface that provides plenty of grip.

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    • Posted by Dulcinea on

      As long as the snowmobiles slow down and watch out for pedestrians, there’s no reason we can’t share the trail. (and honestly, I find people snowmobiles are by and large pretty good in that respect)

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    • Posted by Northern Guy on

      The only approved trails in Iqaluit are snowmobile trails so you’ll have to learn to live with them.

  4. Posted by Jim on

    I doubt that this will ever come to life. The $50K is just the plan, not to create the trail. That part will be much more $$$ and the city just doesn’t have it.

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  5. Posted by Scrubs on

    Oh, so another bribe to the planners? Fun. How often do planning committees and investigations that go nowhere get lump sums like this to develop reports for far too long, that end up outdated by the time they’re received?

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    • Posted by First For Everything on

      It’s no fault of the Planners that Iqaluit and Nunavut writ large can’t effect the projects they shell out money for. Our shortcomings are our own fault and we need to stop blaming everyone else.

  6. Posted by I’ll be happy to plan the trails on

    I’d be very happy to create the trail map for $ 50k; where do I sign up?

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