Plans to fill in a gap in a planned loop of the Friendship Trail through Black Diamond and Turner Valley have hit a snag.
The Town of Turner Valley had hoped to use land owned by the Turner Valley Golf Club as part of its Friendship Trail loop, but learned the club may sell the land northeast of the clubhouse.
The proposed 665 -metre trail would connect to an existing pathway in the Willow Ridge development, run west along the Sheep River tree line and follow a service road south to Township Road 201 east of the clubhouse.
“This is an initiative we were looking at just to give our residents an opportunity to do a full loop and experience the Sheep River and then to connect to existing pathway networks in Black Diamond and Turner Valley,” said Matthew Atkinson, Turner Valley’s planning co-ordinator. “This is the most scenic option and aligned with our vision for both the Town of Black Diamond and Town of Turner Valley. We could look at putting it potentially along the road or in other locations.”
J.D. Scheller, general manger of the Turner Valley Golf Club, said parties have expressed interest in buying the land and it could still work with the Towns if it isn’t sold.
“Right now we are not interested in doing anything that might jeopardize someone from purchasing that land,” he said.
The Town of Turner Valley wrote a letter to the club last year asking for permission to use the land for a walking trail, said Atkinson. The idea was discussed with the previous manager of the golf course last year, but hadn’t gone to the board, he said.
Irene Waring, chair of the Parks, Pathways and Recreation Advisory Committee, said an unofficial trail exists in the proposed area and that people have been using it for a number of years, therefore there would be no cost to make the pathway official.
Alternately, a pathway can be created further east in the Willow Ridge development to connect with Township Road 201 without going through golf course land, but Waring said the initial plan is more ideal.
“It would be more pleasant if you could go through the trees,” she said. “It’s way more pleasant than walking on the road and it’s way safer. In the winter that road is not used very often but in the summer it’s full of speeding golfers.”
In the meantime, the advisory committee is focusing its efforts on building a sidewalk along Main Street in Turner Valley from Decalta Road to the four-way stop, said Atkinson. There are currently no sidewalks on either side of the road.
“That will allow for safe pedestrian movement in the area,” he said.
Atkinson added that Alberta Transportation will paint crosswalk lines at the four-way stop and that a small pathway will be created from the intersection to the existing pathway in Millennium Park.
The Town is waiting to hear if it was approved the $85,000 Canada 150 grant it applied for.
If it is, the matching $85,000 will come from the $100,000 in recreation reserve dollars.
If it’s not, Atkinson said the Town plans to take the money out of the 2017 budget and will have to delay this fall’s construction to 2017.
