The Town of Tecumseh has proposed an extension to Ganatchio Trail to run on Riverside Drive, between Lesperance and Manning. This trail has been carefully engineered to minimize homeowner impact, and present the community with a beautiful multi-use trail. This new trail extension would connect Lakewood Park to the existing Ganatchio Trail system that currently ends at Lesperance and Riverside Dr.
You can find the original Public Information Centre document on the Town of Tecumseh - Capital Projects page to support the growth and expansion of the County Wide Active Transportation System (CWATS) in order to enhance our community and improve access to the Ganatchio Trail and Lakewood Park ammenities.
Who are we? We're people just like you.
It's a real grassroots effort.
We're a true grassroots effort made up of everyday residents of Tecumseh. We all want the same thing - the extension of the Ganatchio trail for our families, and community to enjoy for decades to come. We're not a well organized group or a single person living in a well-to-do area, we're you, and we're your neighbours. We welcome you to join us on Facebook to join in on the conversation, and let us know your thoughts.
Let's Extend The Trail!
The Town has a plan, let's go!
Over the course of many years, and numerous public consultation periods, the Town of Tecumseh has developed a plan to Extend the Trail down Riverside Drive. This plan to Extend the Trail is available for anyone to view, along with all of the engineering documents. Town engineers, and third party engineering firms have developed this plan with safety, active transportation, and future expansion in mind.
The Final Report is In!
The new report by Dillon Consulting and Bezaire is finally available, and will be presented to the town on April 8th! The final recommendation is to continue as planned with a Riverside Dr. South Multi-Use trail. You can read the report and find answers as to why this location was prefered over others. You may also want to read Final Recommendation document which does a great job of describing all of the other trails that will be connected once the Ganatchio trail has been extended!
Why do we need your support?
Some members of our community who mostly live where the trail is to be developed, want to kill this project or move it to another location. The good news is that the vast majority of residents do want this project to move forward as quickly as possible. You can make a difference by showing your support, requesting a yard sign, and if you can, consider a donation to help us make more yard signs and spread awareness.
Let's stick to the facts.
That other website against the trail has decided to call into question parts of the project which have already been professionally engineered in order to ensure this project will fit smoothly into the designed location. You may have seen questions of safety, flooding, or even harm to wildlife. We'd like to displel this disinformation with actual information, cited with sources, with named engineers instead. We feel an approach of truth is better than an agenda that takes away from the community as a whole.
Facts Vs. Misinformation
I heard from RethinkTheTrail that this new extension is unsafe, is there any truth to that?
What you may have read or heard is simply incorrect. This trail design from its inception has been developed by municipal engineers to ensure safety as a top priority. Have you been on Lesperance or many of the other streets with bike lanes, sidewalks, and hundreds of driveway crossings? We're not hearing about safety issues on these streets, why would this be any different?
Ok, but what about the additional risk of flooding?
Again the Town of Tecumseh municipal and third party engineers have designed the trail proposal with no risk of additional flooding or water issues. If you think about it, citing such claims without actually backing them up with a single engineering firm's name, or "professional" should raise skeptisim over every claim made.
To further drive the point home, our town's very own Manager of Engineering Services was formerly the Essex Region Conservation Authority's Water Resources Engineer. To boldly state that water issues have not been considered is laughably egregious and is a great indicator of how little these "Rethink" people care about the rest of our community when they resort to outright false statements and scare tactics.
What about the animals? The RethinkTheTrail website says that we'll impact wildlife, and I love animals!
This specific claim has no merit or backing by any expert, professional, or reasonble person. How would a multi-use trail impact wildlife more than the existing roadway? As you can see, the site is absolutely full of fear tactics meant to scare you from the trail so desired by our community. The same site says trees will be impacted as well, and we know from the engineering reports that only two trees will be removed, as they are dying trees which pose a risk to falling limbs.
I was told that some residents are going to lose their land, that has to be a bad thing, right?
Every resident on Riverside Drive between Lesperance and Manning will lose some land, but it isn't their land to begin with. This land is called Public Right-of-Way and has always been earmarked to support utilities, roadway expansion, and in this case, a new beautiful trail extension. Homeowners have always known this land didn't inherently belong to them, and it shouldn't be a surprise when the land gets used for the good of the community.
What about other routes, has anything else been proposed?
The best and most direct route to Lakewood Park and the existing trail ending at Lesperance is Riverside Drive. The south side (away from the water) ensures residents do not have to cross the busy roadway of Riverside Drive to reach the trail, which ensures easy accessible access from every adjoining street.
Real Details for Community Consideration
Consider that your tax dollars already pay for the land that the opposing homeowners are working so hard to block.
Consider the hard work of the engineers who designed this plan to be most impactful to residents, while fully considering environmental, safety, and every other issue to provide the community with a wonderful recreational trail.
Consider the desire for the residents South of Riverside Drive desiring the benefits and access to the trail system from Tecumseh through Windsor.
Consider the community enjoyment of extending the Ganatchio trail from Lesperance to Lakewood Park, a complete connection between many green spaces for decades of future enjoyment.
Consider the dozens of other streets which already have bike lanes, and hundreds of sidewalk driveway crossings.
Consider Riverside Drive homeowners have always knows that this public right-of-way space was always ear-marked for future expansion, and in this case for the betterment of the entire community.
Trail Site Photos
See for yourself and envision the future location!
Windsor Star covers a new group formed to support the extension of the Ganatchio Trail in Tecumseh after being frustrated by the Rethink Group's efforts to halt the trail.
CBC Radio One March 12, 2021
Listen to a segment on Windsor Morning with Tony Doucette where we discuss why we need the Ganatchio Trail extension, and our thoughts on the claims and statements made by the Rethink Group.
CTV News Windsor March 12, 2021
CTV Windsor covered our new group as we finally gave a voice to the majority of the community who want to see this Ganatchio Trail extension started!
Consider speaking with your ward's councellor to let them know you support Extend the Trail! Every dollar donated will go towards the purchase of yard signs, and other promotional materials.
